JPH0731313A - Milking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a milking apparatus capable of simply founding a milk cow having abnormal healthy state from a number of milk cows in early stages. CONSTITUTION:In this milking apparatus provided with a milking means U for milking milk from breasts of milch cows, a milk fat percentage-measuring means S for measuring milk fat percentage of milk milked by a milking means U and an alarm means A for sending alarm when the milk fat percentage reaches a prescribed value or below, based on the measured data of the milk fat percentage-measuring means S are provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a milking apparatus provided with milking means for milking milk from a udder of a dairy cow.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional milking device has only a function of milking milk from the udder of a dairy cow by a milking means. On the other hand, the health condition of a dairy cow can be checked based on the milk fat ratio of milk. That is, so that milk having a predetermined milk fat ratio or higher can be milked, the components of the feed to be given to the dairy cow are managed, nevertheless, when the milk fat ratio of the milk is the predetermined milk fat ratio or less, It was judged that there was something wrong with the health condition of the dairy cow, and the dairy cow was examined. Traditionally, you regularly submit milk samples to an external specialized laboratory,
I had the laboratory measure the milk fat content of the milk.

[0003]

However, conventionally, it is difficult to carry out the measurement in a short cycle because the measurement of the milk fat content of milk is requested to an external inspection organization. For example, a long cycle of about once a month is required. However, there was a problem that the discovery of abnormal health condition of dairy cows was delayed. In addition, even if an abnormality in the milk fat ratio of a specific dairy cow is found from the measurement results of an external inspection agency,
The particular dairy cow needs to be found out, for example, from a large number of dairy cows that are grazing, so there is a problem that the work is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dairy cow having an abnormal health condition at an early stage, and a cow having an abnormal health condition. In a state where you can easily find out from many dairy cows,
It is about providing the means by which they can be discovered.

[0005]

A characteristic structure of a milking apparatus according to the present invention is based on a milk fat rate measuring means for measuring a milk fat rate of milk milked by the milking means, and measurement information of the milk fat rate measuring means. An alarm means is provided for issuing an alarm when the milk fat ratio becomes equal to or lower than a set value.

[0006]

The operation of the above-mentioned characteristic structure is as follows.
The set value is set to a milk fat ratio (for example, 3.5%) of milk in a state where it can be judged that the cow's health condition has some abnormality when it becomes lower than that. A milk cow to be milked is retained at, for example, a milking place, and milk is milked from the udder of the milk cow by milking means. Then, when the milk fat ratio of the milk expressed is less than or equal to the set value, the alarm means issues an alarm.

[0007]

Therefore, when the alarm is issued by the alarm means, it can be judged that the health condition of the milking cow at that time is abnormal. The milking work is performed in a short cycle, for example, daily, so that it becomes possible to early detect a cow having an abnormal health condition. Moreover, since the milking work is carried out, for example, in a state where a specific cow is retained at a predetermined milking place, when an alarm is issued by the alarm means, the milk is retained and milked at the milking place at that time. Since it can be determined that the dairy cows have abnormal health conditions, it has become possible to easily find out from a large number of dairy cows that have abnormal health conditions.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the overall configuration of the milking apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The milking apparatus includes a milking unit U as a milking means for milking milk from the udder of a dairy cow, and a milk receiving container 1 for temporarily storing the milk milked by the milking unit U.
1, a sanitary trap 12, a pressure regulator 13, a vacuum tank 14, a vacuum pump 15, and a milk pump 16 for discharging the milk stored in the milk receiving container 11 to the outside.
A milk tank 17 for storing the milk discharged by the milk pump 16 and a controller 18 for controlling various controls of the milking apparatus.
And a display unit 19 and the like. A plurality of milking units U and a plurality of milk receiving containers 11 are provided so that milk can be milked simultaneously from a plurality of cows.

Next, the milking unit U will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The milking unit U includes four teat cups 1, a milk short tube 2, and an air short tube 3.
The claw 4, the milk long tube 5, the air long tube 6, and the pulsator 7 interposed in the air long tube 6. As shown in FIG. 2, the teat cup 1 is attached to the udder B of a dairy cow to milk the milk,
Four teat cups 1 are provided so that milk can be separately milked from each of the four udders B of the dairy cow. As shown in FIG. 2, the teat cup 1 includes an outer tubular body 1A made of a hard material and an inner tubular body 1B made of a soft material having flexibility such as rubber. Furthermore, the one end side opening of the inner tubular body 1B and the one end side opening of the outer tubular body 1A are connected in an airtight state, and the inner tubular body 1B is connected.
The other end side is inserted into the one end side opening of the outer tubular body 1A, and the insertion part is made airtight. And the mounting opening 1 of the teat cup 1 formed by the opening of the inner tubular body 1B.
With C attached to the teat Ba of the breast B, the milk short tube 2 is connected in communication with the inner chamber 1a formed by the teat Ba and the inner tubular body 1B, and the outer tubular body 1A and the inner tubular body 1A are connected. Form 1
The short tube 3 for air is connected to the outer chamber 1b formed between B and B. Also, with the claw 4, four short tubes for milk 2
Each of them is connected to one milk long pipe 5 and each of the four air short pipes 3 is connected to one air long pipe 6.

The milk long tube 5 is communicatively connected to a milk receiving container 11, and each of the plurality of milk receiving containers 11 has an air branch pipe 20B for milking.
The milking air pipeline 20 is connected to the vacuum pump 15 via the sanitary trap 12, the pressure regulator 13, and the vacuum tank 14, respectively. Also, the long pipe for air 6
Each of them is connected to an air pipeline 21 for pulsator, and the air pipeline 21 for pulsator is also connected to the sanitary trap 12, the pressure regulator 13, and the vacuum tank 14.
A vacuum pump 15 is communicatively connected to each other. still,
The pulsator 7 interposed in the long air pipe 6 is provided with a control device 18
Thus, the long air pipe 6 communicates with the pulsator air pipeline 21 and communicates with the vacuum pump 15 (hereinafter, referred to as a communication state) and is open to the atmosphere (hereinafter, referred to as an open state). Therefore, the outer chamber 1b of the teat cup 1 is periodically switched between a vacuum state and an atmospheric pressure state.

A milk branch pipe 22B branched from the milk pipeline 22 is communicatively connected to the bottom of each of the milk receiving containers 11, and the milk pipeline 22 is communicatively connected to the milk tank 17. An electromagnetic on-off valve 23 is provided in the milk branch pipe 22B, and a milk pump 16 is provided in the milk pipeline 22. That is, by opening each of the on-off valves 23, the milk stored in each of the milk receiving containers 11 is sent to the milk tank 17 by the milk pump 16 and the milk tank 17 is opened.
It is configured to be stored at.

Next, the operation of the milking unit U when milking milk from the udder B of the dairy cow will be described with reference to FIG. Each of the inner chambers 1a of the four teat cups 1 has a short milk tube 2, a claw 4, a long milk tube 5, a milk receiving container 11, a milking air branch pipe 20B, a milking air pipeline 20, a sanitary trap 12, Each of the outer chambers 1b of the four teat cups 1 is connected to a vacuum pump 15 via a pressure regulator 13 and a vacuum tank 14, and each of the four teat cups 1 has an air short pipe 3,
The claw 4, the long pipe 6 for air, the pulsator 7, the air pipeline 21 for pulsator, the sanitary trap 12, the pressure regulator 13, and the vacuum tank 14 are connected to be connected to the vacuum pump 15 through the respective units.

Therefore, with the mounting opening 1C of the teat cup 1 mounted on the teat Ba of the breast B, the teat cup 1
A vacuum state is always introduced to the inner chamber 1a of the tea cup 1, while the outer chamber 1b of the teat cup 1 is pulsated by the pulsator 7.
The vacuum state and the atmospheric pressure state having substantially the same degree of vacuum as a are periodically switched. That is, when the outer chamber 1b is in a vacuum state, the inner chamber 1a and the outer chamber 1b have substantially the same pressure, and as shown in FIG. 2A, the inner cylindrical body 1B is held in a tubular shape. Therefore, the vacuum of the inner chamber 1a acts on the teat Ba to suck the milk, while the outer chamber 1a
When b is in the atmospheric pressure state, the pressure of the outer chamber 1b becomes higher than that of the inner chamber 1a, and the inner cylindrical body 1B is crushed as shown in FIG. Nipple Ba
The inner cylindrical body 1 which does not act on the milk and is not sucked out
The nipple Ba is pressed by B. Therefore, the milk is sucked from the breast B by periodically repeating the state where the milk is sucked out from the teat Ba and the state where the teat Ba is pressed. As described above, the milk expressed by each of the four teat cups 1 flows through each of the four milk short tubes 2 and merges in the claw 4, and then flows through the milk long tube 5 to receive the milk receiving container 11. Into the feeding container 1
It is stored at 1.

A load cell 24 for measuring the weight of milk stored in the milk receiving container 11 is provided. Specifically, the load cell 24 is fixedly installed with respect to the support portion 25, and the milk receiving container 11 is suspended from the load cell 24 so that a downward load is applied to the load cell 24. I am supported. Reference numeral 26 in FIG. 1 denotes a milking end detection device that detects the end of milking. This milking end detection device 26 is specifically configured by a light emitting unit arranged to emit light in a state of traversing the milk long tube 5 and a light receiving unit arranged to receive transmitted light. is there.
Since the amount of transmitted light changes according to the change in the flow rate of milk flowing through the milk long tube 5, the end of milking is detected based on the change in the amount of transmitted light.

Reference numeral 30 in FIG. 1 is a detector for measuring the milk fat ratio. Hereinafter, based on FIG. 3, the detection unit 30
Will be added. As shown in FIG. 3, the milk branch tube 2
In the middle part of 2B, a rectangular tube-shaped permeation flow path part 27 having a pair of permeation glasses 27a and 27b arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval is connected and connected, and milk is permeated into a rectangular tube-shaped permeation flow. It is designed to flow through the inside of the road portion 27. Also, the detection unit 3
0 is a light emitting unit 31, a light receiving unit 32, and these light emitting units 31
And a casing 33 and the like in which the light receiving section 32 is installed. The light emitting section 31 is arranged so as to irradiate the light beam bundle L in the optical path that crosses the pair of transmission glasses 27a and 27b, and the light receiving section 32 is arranged so as to receive the transmitted light. That is, the milk fat ratio is measured based on the change of the amount of transmitted light according to the change of the milk fat ratio of the milk flowing through the transmission flow path unit 27. Specifically, the milk fat ratio α is measured as follows. When the intensity of the irradiation light with which the optical path is irradiated is I ₀ and the intensity of the transmitted light is I, the absorbance β can be calculated by the following equation. β = log ₁₀ (I ₀ / I) Further, between the milk fat ratio α and the absorbance β, as shown in FIG.
Since the milk fat ratio α increases as the absorbance β increases, the light absorbency β is calculated based on the output signal of the light receiving unit 32, and the calculation result and the light absorbency β and the milk fat ratio as shown in FIG. 5 are obtained. The milk fat ratio α may be calculated based on the relative relationship with α. The relative relationship between the absorbance β and the milk fat percentage α may be obtained in advance by experiments or the like.

The display unit 19 will be described with reference to FIG. The display unit 19 is configured by providing a weight display unit 19a for digitally displaying the total weight of one milk that has been milked, a low milk fat warning lamp 19b, and an end lamp 19c in association with each milking unit U. .

Next, the control configuration of the milking apparatus will be described. The control device 18 is configured by using a microcomputer. Below, regarding the control operation of the control device 18,
A description will be given based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

When a milking start command is given, the vacuum pump 15, the milk pump 16 and the like are operated to activate the apparatus, and the following control is executed. Step # 1
Then, the control for periodically switching the pulsator 7 between the communication state and the open state is started, and in step # 2, based on the output signal from the light receiving unit of the milking end detection device 26,
It is determined whether or not the milking is completed. If the milking is not completed, the process proceeds to step # 3, and if the milking is completed, the process proceeds to step # 10. It should be noted that it is determined that the milking has been completed based on the amount of light received by the light receiving unit being equal to or less than the set value over the set time.

In steps # 3 to # 9,
When the detected weight V of the load cell 24 reaches the upper limit value Wu,
The on-off valve 23 is opened until the detected weight V reaches the lower limit value Wd, and during that time, the following processing is executed. Light receiving part 3
Based on the output signal from 2, the absorbance β is calculated, and the milk fat percentage α is calculated based on the calculation result and the relative relationship between the absorbance β and the milk fat percentage α as shown in FIG. The average processing is performed, and the average milk fat ratio (partial milk fat ratio α _K ) of the milk discharged during that process is calculated. Further, the milk fat weight of the milk discharged in the meantime (partial milk milk fat weight M _K ) is calculated by the arithmetic expression M _K = Ws × α _K , and the calculation result is stored. The control of step # 3 to step # 9 is repeatedly executed until it is determined in step # 2 that the milking is finished, and the number N of times is counted. However, Ws = Wu−W
d, K = 1, 2, ..., N.

When it is judged in step # 2 that the milking is completed, in steps # 10 to # 16, the load cell 2
After measuring the weight of the milk remaining in the milk receiving container 11 (remaining milk weight _WH ) by 4, the open / close valve 23 is opened until the detected weight V becomes 0, during which the following processing is performed. Run. The absorbance β is calculated based on the output signal from the light receiving unit 32, and the milk fat percentage α is calculated based on the calculation result and the relative relationship between the absorbance β and the milk fat percentage α as shown in FIG.
Is calculated, and the calculation result is averaged to calculate the average milk fat ratio (residual milk milk fat ratio) α _H of the residual milk discharged during that period. Further, the milk fat weight of the residual milk discharged during that time (residual milk milk fat weight M _H ) is calculated by an arithmetic expression of M _H = W _H × α _H , and the calculation result is stored. When the detected weight V becomes 0, the pulsator 7 is stopped in the open state.
Therefore, the outer chamber 1b of the teat cup 1 is always in the atmospheric pressure state, and milking is stopped. In addition, the load applied to the load cell 24 by the milk receiving container 11 or the like is canceled in a state where the milk is not stored in the milk receiving container 11, and thus the milk is not stored in the milk receiving container 11. Then, the detected weight V of the load cell 24 is set to 0.

Then, in step # 17, the total milk fat percentage α _T
Α _T = (M ₁ + M ₂ + ... + M _N + M _H ) ÷ (N × W
s + _WH ) is calculated. Subsequently, in step # 18 to step # 20, when the total milk fat ratio α _T is equal to or less than the set value (for example, 3.5%), the low milk fat ratio warning lamp 19b and the end lamp 19c of the display unit 19 are turned on. , When the total milk fat ratio α _T is larger than the set value, the end lamp 1
Only 9c is lit. Subsequently, in step # 21, the total weight (N × Ws + _WH ) of the milk expressed is displayed on the weight display unit 1.
Digitally display on 9a to finish milking for one animal.

Therefore, the light emitting section 31, the light receiving section 32 and the control device 18 function as a milk fat ratio measuring means S for measuring the milk fat ratio of the milk expressed by the milking unit U, and the low milk fat ratio warning lamp 19b is provided. Based on the measurement information of the milk fat ratio measuring means S, it functions as an alarm means A that issues an alarm when the milk fat ratio becomes a set value or less.

[Other Embodiments] Next, other embodiments will be listed. In the above-mentioned example, the total milk fat ratio α _T is calculated, and the case where the alarm is issued when the total milk fat ratio α _T becomes equal to or less than the set value is exemplified. However, instead of this, the partial milk fat ratio α _K It may be configured to issue an alarm when is less than or equal to a set value.

It may be configured such that the set value can be changed and set.

As a specific configuration of the alarm means A, in the above-described embodiment, the lamp 19b provided corresponding to each milking unit U is applied, but various configurations other than this are applicable. For example, a display device may be applied in which an identification symbol is attached to each milking unit U and the identification symbol is displayed. In addition, the total milk fat ratio α _T corresponding to each milking unit U
You may apply the display apparatus which displays.

The entire amount of milk expressed by one dairy cow is stored in the milk receiving container 11, and the open / close valve 23 is opened after it is determined that the milking is completed based on the output signal from the milking completion detecting device 26. It may be configured as follows.

It should be noted that reference numerals are added to the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a milking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a milking means in a milking device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of a milk fat percentage measuring means in a milking device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flowchart of control operation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relative relationship between absorbance and milk fat percentage.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A alarm means S milk fat rate measuring means U milking means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A milking apparatus provided with a milking means (U) for milking milk from a udder of a dairy cow, wherein the milk fat rate measuring means (S) measures the milk fat rate of the milk milked by the milking means (U). ) And the alarming means (A) for issuing an alarm when the milky fat ratio becomes less than or equal to a set value, based on the measurement information of the milky fat ratio measuring means (S).