NL193970C - Stable equipment with lying protection. - Google Patents

Description

• 1 193970

Stable equipment with lying protection *

The invention relates to a stable device with means for securing nursing youngsters in a mother animal, such as a sow, which device mainly consists of a floor and two spaced parallel parallel fixed fencing placed above the floor or the like to form a standing and lying space for the mother animal, the bottom boundary of each fence being mounted at a distance above the floor of the stable and wherein an urging means below the bottom boundary of each fence is from a position adjacent to that fence to a position in the space between the fencing is movable and vice versa, as known from EP-A-0.112.098.

10 In lactating animals it may happen that the mother animal has to lie down during lactation, during which the mother animal regularly sets itself up to eat or drink, for example. In pig breeding, it is common for the sow to squeeze the newborn offspring to lie down again, because the offspring are unable to free themselves under the weight of the mother. This is a common problem in pig breeding and in a device according to EP-A-0.112.098 this drawback has already been overcome to some extent in that the outwardly directed movement is damped from the underneath boundary for each fence by movable urging means.

The object of the invention is to consciously control the urging means and to that end provides a device which is distinguished in that a driving means is coupled to each urging means, which driving means is controlled by a sensing means acting at a predetermined height between the fencing, such as a photosensitive sensor, all this such that when released by a mother animal of that height the sensor appeals for moving each urging member by its drive means in the position next to the fence.

Thanks to the distinguishing measures according to the invention, the mother animal, upon lying down, is first forced by lowering the legs into a lying position, because each urging member initially does not yield, is held in the drive means. Only when the control signal is released, when the animal has sunk sufficiently through its legs, will the propelling means cause any urging member to move outward, so that flattering on the floor can take place without danger to the suckled animals. If desired, the urging member is retracted completely outside the lying or standing space between the fencing, so that the nursing animals can easily reach the dam.

GB-A-2.117.620 discloses a stable device with lying protection, in which the standing position of a mother animal is detected by, for example, optical means, and blowing air in that condition is generated under the mother animal in order to keep suckled animals away under the mother animal. .

The invention will be further elucidated below on the basis of a number of exemplary embodiments. In the drawing: figure 1 shows a top view of a double steep or breeding pen suitable for suckling youngsters, figure 2 a standing section of the farrowing pen from figure 1 along the line tl-II, figures 3, 4 and 5 three variants , in perspective side view of an urging member, applicable to a farrowing pen of figure 1.

40

The farrowing pen in the figures consists of a floor 1, with fixed fencing 2 mounted above it, which are placed at a distance from each other, in order to obtain a lying and standing space 3 for the mammal Z. The arrangement of the fencing can be arbitrary.

It is noted that the floor 1 can be partly designed as a slatted floor 1 'for discharging the manure. It is further noted that the term "fixed fencing" means fencing which is permanently fixed in the stable during the maternal suckling period of the boy. These fencing may be removable on its own.

The fencing can consist of any material, for instance of pipe material, here mainly formed by two horizontal tubes and the intermediate bars or tubes 5 connecting two superposed tubes 4, of course. These fencing can be designed in other ways.

The distance A between the two parallel fencing 2 is such that the mother animal can stand between them, but is limited in its lateral movement.

Under the fencing, the lower boundary of which, i.e. the lower tube 4 'is arranged at a distance above the floor 1, a pressing member 6 is arranged. 55 In the standing section according to figure 2, this pressing member 6 is movable relative to the fencing 2 fencing, which can be brought from a position, drawn with solid lines next to the fencing 2 to a position, drawn with a broken line, in the lying and standing space between the fencing 2.

Claims (2)

193970 2 The urging member 6, which is explained in more detail below, can be moved from one position to the other by means of a propellant 7. The propellant 7 shown in Figure 2 is a double-acting cylinder, the piston rod of which engages a lever 8, which is connected to the end of the urging member 6 by a strut 9. The urging member 6 is pivotable on the lower tube 4 ', for example by means of sleeves 10. The cylinder 7 can be fed by means of a pressure source B, hydraulically or pneumatically, via the intermediary of a valve 24. The valve is controlled by a sensor 11, for example a light-sensitive sensor, the light of which is supplied by the radiation source 12. The signal from the sensor 11 is supplied to a control circuit 13, which actuates the valve 24, such that when the light beam is interrupted by a standing sow, the upper port of the cylinder 7 is fed by the pressure source B, while the resetting the light beam, the valve is shifted, so that the cylinder function is reversed. All this is important when the sow Z lies down, which initially sinks on one of the two urging members 6, which are in the dotted position in figure 2, into a sitting lying position, and presses it with its full weight. As soon as the light beam is released, the urging members 6 swing further open, and the sow can lie down, so that good accessibility of the udder is obtained. The latter action of sow Z has eliminated the danger of crushing the piglets. As soon as sow Z rises again, this is signaled again and the process repeats and the urging members 6 again move in the standing space of the sow Z. Figure 3 shows a variant of the urging member 6, in the form of a bracket 15, which is of 20 two sleeves can be pivoted around the lower tube 4 'of the fixed fencing. Figure 4 shows a variant in which each pressing member is designed as a fork, consisting of a main tube 16 with pins 17 standing thereon, which main tube 16 is pivotably mounted around the bottom tube 4 'of the fencing via the sleeves 10. One of the sleeves is designed as a gear ring, which cooperates with a pinion 18, which is driven by an electric motor 19. In this way, a force member can be brought from the position with 25 full drawn lines to the position with broken lines in figure 4 and vice versa. . Drive as in figure 2 is also possible. Figure 5 shows a variant, in which each urging member 6 is mounted on the top tube 4 of the fixed fence with sleeves 10. On the sleeves 10 are arms 20 carrying a main tube 16, to which tubes 17 are attached. A screw spindle 22 is hingedly connected to one of the arms 20 at 21, which is engaged by a screw motor 23 in order to pivot the arm 20 and therefore the urging element back and forth around the tube 4. The urging element with associated feed can be a unit which is detachably coupled to the fixed fence. This can ensure that the unit can be used in other farrowing pens once the danger period of death has passed. Stable device with means for securing nursing pups at a mother animal, such as a sow, 40 which device mainly consists of a floor and two spaced parallel parallel fixed fencing or the like arranged to form gates a standing and lying area for the mother animal, in which the bottom boundary of each fence is mounted at a distance above the floor of the stable and in which an urging member below the bottom boundary of each fence is mounted from a position next to that fence to a position in the space between the fencing movable and vice versa, characterized in that each urging member (6) is coupled to a driving means (7), which driving means (7) is controlled by a sensing means (10) acting between the fencing at a predetermined height, such as a photosensitive sensor , all this in such a way that when released by a mother animal of that height the sensor (10) responds for the drive means (7) move each pressing member (6) to the position next to the fence (5). Hereby 2 sheets drawing