WO2010071414A2

WO2010071414A2 - Feeding system and method for feeding livestock

Info

Publication number: WO2010071414A2
Application number: PCT/NL2009/000258
Authority: WO
Inventors: Serge Louis Loosveld
Original assignee: Lely Patent N.V.
Priority date: 2008-12-15
Filing date: 2009-12-15
Publication date: 2010-06-24
Also published as: WO2010071414A3

Abstract

A method is disclosed for remote control of an automatic livestock feeding system comprising a feeding device and computer means, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining information about said feeding device (2) and/or said animals from said computer means, creating a data set containing the obtained information about said feeding device (2) and/or animals, establishing a connection between the automatic feeding system (1) and a remote control unit (8), and transmitting the created data set to the remote control unit (8).

Description

Feeding system and method for feeding livestock

The invention relates to a method for remote supervision of an automatic livestock feeding system as well as to a system for remote supervision of an automatic livestock feeding system.

Automated feeding systems for feeding animals are known. Such feeding systems may comprise a feeding device at which the feeding of an animal or of a plurality of animals takes place, and one or more computers which control the feeding process of the feeding device. The feeding device may comprise one or more feed supply devices, and one or more computers which control the process performed by the feeding device or stations. Thereby, feeding processes of animals may be at least partly automated.

A computer on which management software is provided and having a computer screen, may for example display relevant data, such as feed intake of individual animals, etc. Also, suitable instructions may be provided by the user input via the management computer by any suitable means, such as keyboard, mouse etc. In order to allow an operator to have access to the data and provide instructions at different locations, the management software may be accessible at different computers which are interconnected via a network, such as a local area network.

The feeding device itself may also be provided with a computer in order to control and/or process data from various parts of the feeding device or feeding devices, such as feed dosage valves, animal identification equipment, access gates, feed weight sensors, etc. Each feeding device may be provided with its own computer.

High labor costs, increasing demands on food quality, increasing demands on traceability, animal well being, etc, may invoke a requirement for a farmer to take appropriate actions instantaneously. Examples of such actions may include but are not limited to an addition of a pharmaceutical substance to supplied food, a change of a food dosage or dosage schedule per animal or for a group of animals, denying or allowing access to certain animals or groups of animals, etc. The present feeding systems however only partly allow such fast taking of actions: if an operator of the feeding system is away from the computer on which the management software is executed, it may take too long until an appropriate action is taken. Consequently, there exists a need for remote control of a feeding system from any location.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method and system for remote access to control of the feeding system, regardless of a location of the user. In order to achieve this object, the method according to the invention is characterized by the features of claim 1 and the system according to the invention is characterized by the features of claim 9.

In accordance with the present invention, a method is provided for remote supervision of an automatic feeding system being adapted to handle animals and comprising at least one feeding device and computer means. The method according to the invention includes the steps of creating a data set containing information about said feeding device and/or animals obtained from said computer means, establishing a connection between the feeding system and a remote control unit, and transmitting the created web-data set to the remote control unit. Thereby a user may supervise the automatic feeding system and/or the animals even when located far away form the stable. The user may further use different kinds of apparatuses as the remote control unit, for example a mobile phone, a computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a laptop, in order to e. g. check the status of a feeding device. By selecting a suitable format of the data set, the user may access the automatic feeding system from any remote control unit, and is not restricted to use a specially adapted remote control unit.

In this document, the term computer or computer means is to be understood as to comprise any type of data processing device, such as a personal computer, a notebook, a server, a microcomputer, (embedded) microcontroller, a programmable logic controller (PLC), etc. The computer means may be separate computer means or at least partly be integral in the feeding station. Various computers or computer means comprised in the feeding system may be interconnected by means of a data network, such as a local area network. The feeding device, such as a feeding station, may be arranged for feeding any type of animals, preferably livestock such as but not limited to cows or other milking animals, pigs, swine's, kangaroos, or birds such as chicken, ducks, etc. Furthermore, the feeding device may be arranged for any type of feeding, including dry feed, liquid or a combination thereof. The feeding system may thus be arranged to supply any type of food, including one or more of dry food, liquid food (including water or other drinking fluid), and a mixtures thereof. The feeding device may thus also comprise a drinking station, such as a calve drinking machine or a water supply device. The feeding system may include any type of feeding system, such as a stationary, a mobile, an individual, and a collective feeding system. The feeding system may be formed by a feeding only system (thus not comprising other functionality except feeding) or a combined system having other functions, such as milking. The feeding system may comprise a movable feeding system such as a rail guided feeder, a (e.g. autonomously movable) feeding robot, etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention the method includes the further step of having the automatic feeding system receive information from the remote control unit. The user is thereby enabled as well to transmit information or instructions to the automatic feeding system, thereby avoiding the need to go to the stable buildings in order to correct certain types of failures. The instructions may comprise a message to an operator of the feeding device, the message being displayed at an operator console such as a display, an industrial computer, or any mobile device such as a mobile telephone, PDA, etc. Thereby, the user of the communication device may instantly send a message, such as a text message, pictorial message, acoustical warning etc. to an operator in order to instruct the operator and/or inform him accordingly so that the operator can quickly take the desired actions or intervene if required.

The user of the remote control unit may specify what kind of information he wants to receive. This feature provides the user with a great flexibility in that he does not need to actually go to the stable building, but can correct some failures from a distance.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention the method includes the further step of customizing said data set to a specific remote control unit, before the transmission. This enables the user to receive only desired information, only predetermined information or receiving information that is adjusted in consideration of the capacity of the particular remote control unit that the user presently has handy. A user is thereby not limited to the use of a specific, stationary computer in order to be updated about the status of a feeding device, but is able to use any remote control unit available. The data set in addition thereto or instead thereof be customized to a property of the communication connection between the remote control unit and the automated feeding system, in order to e.g. adapt a data size or data rate of the web documents to an available or allowable bandwidth of the communication, so as to avoid the user of the mobile remote control unit having to wait for an unnecessary long time before being able to obtain the desired data.

The data set may comprise for example current data, historic data, time averaged data, animal specific data, and/or any other data or combination thereof. The property of the connection may comprise an available data rate, a data rate fluctuation, an error rate, a price of the data transfer per data unit, a type of the connection (private, public, wireless, wired, switched network based, internet protocol based, fixed bandwidth, variable bandwidth, etc). The property of the communication connection may be obtained by any suitable means. It is for example possible that the property is derived from the type of connection or other connection parameter such as its available bandwidth which may allow to adapt the data set quickly to changes in the connection or type of connection. Alternatively or in addition thereto, the property may be derived from a measurement of and/or historic data of a performance of the connection, such as its available data rate, bit error rate, failure rate, carrier signal strength etc. which may allow to adapt to varying conditions.

According to an embodiment, the step of customizing the data set comprises one or more of: customizing a level of detail of the data set - customizing a time frame to which data of the data set relates, and customizing a data format of the data set.

Thereby, a data size of the data set may be affected, it is however also possible that other properties of the data set are affected, such as a redundancy by selecting a suitable data format having more or less redundancy data, a sensitivity of the data format for fluctuations in e.g. a data rate of error rate of the communication connection, etc. In case of for example sudden fluctuations in the available data rate, a data format may be chosen which is highly insensitive to such fluctuations. Some examples are provided below: Providing more or less historic data (e.g a 2 days historic feeding data or a 10 days historic feeding data) may affect a total data size of the data set: a low bandwidth of the communication connection may favour a smaller total data size. A similar effect may be obtained by changing the level of detail of the data, e.g. individual data for each animal of only average data for all animals, possibly in combinations with data of animals having a deviation with respect to the average, which deviation exceeds a certain threshold, thereby allowing the user to monitor animals having deviating data, while still benefiting from a reduction in data size. Another example may be provided by a change of the data format: selecting a data stream as the data format may be more sensitive to a sudden temporary reduction in a quality of the data communication connection, than another data format, such as a web page.

Therefore, it is for example possible that streaming video is provided when a high quality, high bandwidth connection is available, while a picture is provided when a lower quality data connection is available. The resolution and refresh rates can be selected to suit the properties of the data communication connection.

It is to be understood that within the scope of the invention, any combination of whereto the data set is customized (the remote control unit and/or the communication connection) and - how it is customized (e.g. level of detail, time frame of data, data format and others), is possible.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention the data set comprises a (that is, one or more) web document and the step of creating the data set comprises creating a web-document using a web-server (10) including a program for creating web-documents. Thereby an easy way for providing at least part of the information to a remote control unit is provided, as web documents, such as html documents, xtml documents, etc., may be read using standard software, such as a web browser. Thereby, information about a feeding device and/or animals of the herd is provided, giving an easy and non-expensive way to implement the present invention.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention the at least one computer connected to the at least one feeding device in said system receives specific instructions from the remote control unit. These instructions are preferably input by a user of the remote control unit by means of a user interface, such as a keyboard. The settings of the feeding device can thereby be remote manipulated by the user of the remote control unit. The user may from a distance manipulate and possibly correct a failure that has occurred, thereby avoiding the need to go to the stable building and correct the failure in situ. In addition thereto, or instead thereof, the settings of the computer means may also be remotely manipulated by the user, allowing to adapt any setting (such as alarm levels, feed dosage per animal, kind of reports to be generated, feeding schemes, etc) as needed or as desired. Thereby, supervision and control of the feeding system including the computer means, may be performed entirely remotely by the user via the communication device. The instructions may further comprise a message to an operator of the feeding device, the message being displayed at an operator console. Thereby, the user of the remote control unit may instantly send a message, such as a text message, pictorial message, acoustical warning etc. to an operator in order to instruct the operator and/or inform him accordingly so that the operator can quickly take the desired actions or intervene if required.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention said computer means comprises two or more computers being programmed to handle different functions in the automatic feeding system. A first computer may comprise a database including information about the herd being handled by the automatic feeding system, and another computer may handle the functions of the automatic feeding system. This feature provides enhanced design flexibility when implementing the invention.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention said step of establishing a connection between a remote control unit and the automatic feeding system is performed upon a certain event, for example an alarm. The connection may be automatically set up at an event, or it may be set up at a user's request. The connection is initiated either from the remote control unit or the automatic feeding system, and this enables a secure supervision of the AFS and/or the animals in that the user may always be alerted at the occurrence of certain events.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention the system includes a camera. The camera is preferably connected to the computer and directed so that it can take images of the feeding device and/or animals. Thereby means are provided for enabling the sending of images of the at least one feeding device and/or animals to a user of a remote control unit. This gives a convenient way for a user to see the feeding device and the animals in the stable building without actually being there. The user thus receives more information and thereby is able to make better and correct decisions about what to do when a failure has occurred, or is simply updated about the status and the state of health of the animals.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention the connection to the feeding device may comprise a wide band connection such as a (glass) fibre connection, a satellite connection, a local area network (LAN), a virtual local area network (V-LAN), a radio connection or a data line such as an (e.g. asymmetric) digital subscriber line (DSL). These connections may provide wide bandwidths, enabling large amounts of information to be transmitted to a user. In a further preferred embodiment, the automatic feeding system may further include a milking system for milking the animals, the information may thereby further comprise information concerning the milking of the animals. The milking system may include an operator operated, i.e. semi automatic milking system, etc. Thereby, feeding and milking of the animals may be combined, allowing to extend the above advantages of the remote control according to the invention and its preferred embodiments to systems including milking facilities as well.

The present invention also relates to a system for remote supervision of an automatic feeding system, whereby equivalent advantages may be obtained and similar preferred embodiments may be provided.

Further embodiments and advantages of the invention will become clear from the appended drawing and corresponding description in which a non limiting embodiment is shown, wherein: Figure 1 shows one embodiment of the system for supervision of an automatic feeding system in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 1 illustrates a system for supervision of an automatic feeding system in accordance with the present invention. The automatic feeding system (AFS) 1 comprises computer means for controlling the processes being performed within the AFS 1.

The computer means may, for example, be implemented as several computers handling different functions of the automatic feeding system 1. For example, one computer, being part of the computer means, may control a feeding device, and another may be arranged to retrieve and administrate statistics about the AFS 1. Irrespective of how the computer means is implemented, information and data may be communicated between all the different parts of it; e. g. in the case of different computers, the computers may be interconnected. The feeding system 1 also includes at least one feeding device 2, into which the animals enter in order to be fed. Other handling processes of the animals may also be performed in the AFS 1 , such as after- treatments of different kinds (e. g. cleaning, teat treatments) etc. Feed meters for measuring the amount of feed are also included, as well as other feeding related equipment.

The feeding device 2 further includes at least one computer (not shown) and is controlled by means of it. This at least one computer controls the functions of the feeding device 2, such as for example the feeding pumps, dosage valves, feeding mechanisms etc. The feeding device 2 may further include a screen (not shown) for enabling the displaying of information to a user, and for providing a means for the user to enter information and commands to the feeding device 2. Further, at least another computer 3 is preferably connected to the feeding device 2, and preferably also a screen 4 and a user interface 5, for example a keyboard. The computer 3 preferably includes a database containing information about the herd of animals being handled by the feeding device 2. Information and procedures of interest for a user include for example kind of food being given to the animals, amount of food, the interval between two feeding occasions of an animal (for example the minimum allowed interval between two feeding occasions), feed data, feed statistics, details about specific animals etc. By means of the present invention, all these functions may be controlled by the user located at a remote location, and respectively, all this information may be retrieved by the user. The computer 3 is in turn connected to a communication enabling means, such as a modem 6, for enabling communication with an external remote control unit 7,8. In the figure, the different parts are shown as separate devices. This is however not necessary, the different parts may in an alternative embodiment of the invention be integrated into one device.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a device for creating hyper text mark-up (HTML) documents is provided. The device can for example be a web-server 10, and in the following description a web-server is used in order to clarify and describe the present invention. It is however to be understood that the device could be another device as well, such as a WAP-server (Wireless Application Protocol). Further, other applications of SGML (standardized general markup language) than HTML (hypertext markup language) is considered to be within the scope of the present invention, such as for example vrml (virtual reality markup language), xhtml (extensible html), Java or JSP (Java Server Pages). As a further example the web server 10 may be arranged to provide web pages in a form of portable data formal (PDF) documents. Applying standardized document formats allows to the remote control unit to receive and handle them with minimal requirements for dedicated software. The HTML documents may for example be handled by a browser program of the remote control unit, while PDF documents may be handled by a suitable PDF document reader.

The web-server 10 includes a program for creating web- documents, such as a HTML-document or a PDF document, containing information about the status of a feeding device 2 and/or the animals. Examples of such programs for creating web-documents are programs available from Apache Software Foundation. A user may retrieve any desired information that is available in the computer 3 (or some other computer, not shown) to the remote control unit, 7,8 of his or her choice. This remote control unit 7,8 may be any bidirectional remote control unit such as a computer 7, a mobile phone 8, a laptop computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or the like. The mobile phone may be an ordinary 2nd generation phone (adapted for communication in e. g. GSM), a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) phone or a 3rd generation phone (adapted for communication in e. g. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or Enhanced Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) ) or any other portable, mobile phone. The communication may be enabled by means of a wireless communication link 9, as well as by any form of physical transmission means, wired or wireless. The communication is preferably conducted by means of a wide band connection such as fibre, satellite, (V) LAN (Virtual Local Area Network), radio or ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line) or any other connection enabling large amount of information to be transmitted. The web-server 10 creates a web-document containing the information demanded by the user, or some predetermined information.

This program thus creates a web-document, for example a HTML or PDF document that can be viewed by means of a web-browser or other suitable reader. The web-server 10 or the computer 3 also includes means for converting this information to different interface protocols, and the information can be adjusted in dependence of a chosen remote control unit 7,8 to which the information is to be sent.

If the selected remote control unit 7,8 is restricted to receive data at a rather low maximum data rate, which limits the maximum possible size of the information to be received by it, the user may select what information should be sent. This can be done in a number of ways. The user can for example have predetermined settings in the web-server 10, determining the kind of information that should be sent to a certain kind of remote control unit 7,8, for example in dependence of the capacity of the remote control unit 7,8. The adaptation, or customizing, of the data to be transmitted may be performed in a separate step before the actual transmission to the remote control unit 7,8, or more or less simultaneously with the trans- mission. The customizing may be performed in different devices or in one and same device. There is much information and procedures performed by the feeding device 2 that are of interest to a user, as was mentioned above. The user may for example want to supervise which animals have been fed, how much feed they have consumed, kind of food to be given, amount of food, and how long time has elapsed since the last feeding of a certain animal, when a feed reservoir was last replenished, the amount of feed in the feed reservoir and information about this may be sent to the user. The energy consumption of the automatic feeding system 1 , supervision of feed meters (assurance of that they show the correct amount for example) and functioning of the food dosage are all examples of information and procedures of interest to the user. The feeding system 1 may further include some threshold values for certain procedures, which threshold values activate an alarm when reached. For example, if the energy consumption of the feeding system 1 is reaching a certain threshold, an alarm may be sent to the user, who is then able to perform a fault-localizing and thereby possibly prevent an interruption of the system.

The created web-documents can be updated as often as desired, automatically or at request.

Although in figure 1 , the web-server 10 is shown as a separate device, in an alternative embodiment the web-server 10 or the features of the web- server 10 can be integrated with the computer 3 or the computer of the feeding device 2, or any other computer being part of the computer means of the AFS 1. Irrespective of the location of the web-server 10, information may be retrieved from all the other computers of the system and be presented in a web-document.

The user may also send information to the computer 3 and to the web-server 10. This is an additional feature of the present invention, and decreases the need for a farmer to go to the stable building in order to correct a failure. The program creating web-documents has the capability to start other programs. The user may thus, by means of a remote control unit 7, 8, input instructions, whereby the program creating web- documents affects the programs controlling the feeding device 2. The user may for example reboot the system though being at a remote location, or restart certain procedures of the feeding device 2 at a distance. The user may also open or close gates in the automatic feeding system 1 if such needs arise, or he/she may disconnect certain parts of the system, or certain equipments can be overridden, such as for example sensors for sensing angles of certain feeding robot arm parts or the like. The user may also get a verification that a sent instruction has indeed been carried out.

The system according to the invention may further include a milking system 12 for milking the animals, the information may thereby further comprise information concerning the milking of the animals. The milking system may include an operator operated, i.e. semi automatic milking system, a milking robot, etc. Thereby, feeding and milking of the animals may be combined, which not only allows to extend the above advantages of the remote control according to the invention and its preferred embodiments to systems including milking facilities as well, but also allows an improved monitoring of health, development and other parameters of the animals by combining and presenting to the user of the remote control unit 7,8 data related to the feeding as well as to any suitable milking parameter. In such a combined feeding and milking system, instructions may further be provided by the user of the remote control unit 7, 8 via a suitable message at the operator console, to the operator of the feeding and milking system, to allow him to take immediate actions if desired, thereby increasing animal safety, etc.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a camera 11 is installed within the automatic feeding system 1 , and being connected to at least one computer, for example by means of Ethernet. The camera 11 can be activated by a user, be active at all times, or be activated when a certain event occurs. Still or moving images taken by the camera 11 are sent to the web- server 10 and can thus be transferred to a user of a remote control unit 7,8 located anywhere. The user may thus see what is going on in the stable building or other environment where the animals are held, regardless of where he or she is, and is thereby able to make correct decisions about whether to take any actions in certain situations, and what actions to take. The camera 11 is not only convenient in case of failures, but also for enabling the user to supervise the animals and/or the AFS. The camera may for example be activated when a specific animal enters the feeding device 2. The user may have had certain problems related to that animal, he or she may for example be difficult to feed or may kick the equipment in the feeding stable. The user can thus program the camera 11 to take pictures when this animal enters the feeding device 2, and can thereby supervise a feeding operation and see details about the problem (s) and is thereby able to make a well-grounded decision about how to solve the problem (s). An- other example of such an active supervision is that the user may program the web-server 10 to call a certain telephone number when a specific event occurs, for example when a certain animal enters the feeding device 2.

Furthermore, other equipment can also be placed within the system. If a temperature sensor (not shown) is included, it can be used for example to determine when an animal is in heat, and since her behaviour changes as well, also the camera 11 can be used for this purpose. The camera may alternatively be a video camera, enabling video to be shown. An example of yet an additional equipment is a microphone, enabling the user to hear sounds in the stable. The user of the mobile remote control unit may also program the web-server 10 or the computer 3 to start the camera 11 whenever something that should generate an alarm occurs. When the user gets an alarm, he or she may send a request for additional information, such as data about the type of alarm. The user may then request yet further information, the information being retrieved from the computer 3 by means of the web-server 10. The web-server 10 creates a web-document containing the requested information and sends the web-document to the user requesting the information. The requested information may also include pictures taken by the camera 11. The pictures taken by the camera 11 from for example 5 seconds before an alarm has alerted to 5 seconds after the event may be saved in a computer. The user may thereby get accurate information about the event that generated the alarm, and make decisions accordingly. The user may again get a verification that a sent instruction has been carried through.

In an alternate embodiment pictures taken by the camera 11 are presented on a separate website or webpage. The user may thereby easily access said website or webpage separately in order to see pictures of the stable.

Thus, the present invention provides means for remote supervision of animals, and also means for enabling a user to remote supervise a feeding device 2 by means of different kinds of remote control units 7,8 (mobile phones, laptops, PDAs etc.), the different remote control units including different interfaces.

The system may also include safety measures in order to prevent an unauthorized use of the system. The user may for example be requested to input a code, i.e. a password, before access to the system is granted. Other safety measures could include multiple codes (passwords), voice recognition and encryption or any combination thereof. The use of a firewall as a safety measure is also conceivable.

It should be appreciated that the means and steps of the described system and method, respectively, could be performed in another order than the one used in the described embodiment.

For example, the user may send instructions first, where after a web- document is created. Other modifications and alterations are also apparent and are to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, while the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular forms illustrated. Modifications and alterations obvious to a person skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the appended claims

In an embodiment, the feeding device may comprise a mobile feeding device being connected to the system via e.g. a wireless communication connection. Data such as amount of feed in the feed reservoir, feeding device location, battery charging levels, etc may be communicated wirelessly to e.g. stationary computer means, which in turn communicates with the remote control unit of the user. Although in the above an example has been given which makes use of web documents, it will be understood that any other data format may be applied, examples of which having been given above. Furthermore, the data format may be customized to the properties of at least one of the (properties of) the remote control unit and the connection between the automatic milking system and the remote control unit.

Claims

1. Method for remote control of an automatic livestock feeding system which comprises a feeding device and a computer means, wherein the method comprises the following steps: obtaining from the computer means information about the feeding device (2) and/or the animals, creating a data set containing the information obtained about the feeding device (2) and/or the animals, establishing a connection between the automatic feeding system (1) and a remote control unit (8), and transmitting the created data set to the remote control unit (8).

2. Method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the method includes the further step of customizing the data set to at least one of: a specific remote control unit (8) and a property of the connection between the automatic feeding system and the remote control unit, before the transmission thereof to the remote control unit (8).

3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the step of customizing the data set comprises one or more of: customizing a level of detail of the data set customizing a time frame to which the data set relates, - customizing a data format of the data set.

4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the data set comprises a web-document, and in that the step of creating the data set comprises creating a web-document using a web-server (10) including a program for creating web-documents.

5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the computer means in the automatic feeding system (1) receives specific instructions from the remote control unit (8), which instructions have been input by a user of the remote control unit by means of a user interface.

6. Method according to claim 5, wherein settings of at least one of the feeding device (2) and the computer means can be remote manipulated by means of the instructions from the remote control unit (8).

7. Method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the instructions comprise a message to an operator of the feeding device, the message being displayed at an operator console.

8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the automatic feeding system further includes a milking system for milking the animals, and in that the information further comprises information concerning the milking.

9. System for remote control of an automatic feeding system (1) which is adapted to handle animals and which comprises at least one feeding device (2) and a computer means, characterized in that the system comprises a means (10) for creating a data set containing information about the feeding device (2) and/or the animals obtained from the computer means, a means for establishing a connection between the automatic feeding system (1) and a remote control unit (8), and a means (10, 6) for transmitting the created data set to the remote control unit (8).

10. System according to claim 9, characterized in that the system further comprises a means for customizing the data set to at least one of: a specific remote control unit (8) and a property of the connection between the automatic feeding system and the remote control unit, before the transmission thereof to the remote control unit (8).

11. System according to claim 10, characterized in that customizing the data set comprises one or more of the following: customizing a level of detail of the data set customizing a time frame to which the data set relates customizing a data format of the data set.

12. System according to one of claims 9-11 , characterized in that the data set comprises web-documents, and in that the means (10) for creating the data set comprises a web-server (10) with a program for creating web-documents.

13. System according to one of claims 9-12, characterized in that the computer means in the system is configured to receive specific instructions from a remote control unit (8), which instructions have been input by a user of the remote control unit (8) by means of a user interface.

14. System according to claim 13, wherein settings of at least one of the feeding device (2) and the computer means can be remote manipulated by means of the instructions from the remote control unit (8).

15. System according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the instructions comprise a message to an operator of the feeding device, wherein the system is configured to display the message at an operator console.

16. System according to one of claims 9-15, characterized in that the automatic feeding system further includes a milking system for milking the animals, and in that the information further comprises information concerning the milking of the animals.