WO2019117792A1

WO2019117792A1 - Method and device for dairy animal management

Info

Publication number: WO2019117792A1
Application number: PCT/SE2018/051273
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carl Oskar PAULRUD
Original assignee: Delaval Holding Ab
Priority date: 2017-12-13
Filing date: 2018-12-11
Publication date: 2019-06-20

Abstract

The invention relates to a dairy animal management supporting device (130) and a method therein for supporting dairy animal management. The device (130) comprises an upper end (310), configured to connect to a milk bucket. Further, the device (130) comprises a lower end (320), configured to interface the device (130) towards a supporting surface. The device (130) also comprises a fastening means (350), operable to fasten the upper end (310) of the device (130) to the milk bucket. Also, the device (130) comprises a weight sensor (330), configured to sense weight of the milk bucket when connected to the upper end (310) of the device (130), while the lower end (320) of the device (130) rests on the supporting surface. Furthermore, the device (130) also comprises a processing circuitry (340), adapted to provide information of the weight sensor (330), to an information device (140).

Description

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DAIRY ANIMAL MANAGEMENT

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a device and method for supporting dairy animal management, in particular it relates to a device for determining milk weight for bucket milking.

BACKGROUND

A highly producing dairy cow can produce 50 litres of milk every day. In order for the dairy cow to produce 50 litres of milk, it has to move about 25,000 litres of blood through its udder. This is an achievement in parity with that of a human running a marathon. By such a comparison, it may easily be understood that the cow must be in good condition to be able to produce large amounts of milk every day. Naturally, this is true also for other types of dairy animals, such as buffalos, goats and sheep.

As today’s dairy industry is highly competitive, it is more important than ever for milk producers, such as dairy farmers, to keep informed about the production and welfare of their herd. When having access to the right information, it becomes possible to manage the dairy animals in a good and efficient way.

Modern large dairy farms can have herds of more than 10 thousand animals. However, the main part of the world’s milk production takes place in much smaller farms, having herds of less than 50 animals. For example, a majority of the dairy animals in India, which is one of the world’s leading milk producing countries in terms of volumes of milk, are kept in herds of 2-8 animals.

Many large dairy farms are equipped with Automatic Milking Systems (AMSs), involving robot assisted milking of the dairy animals. There are different types of AMS solutions. For example, there are fully automated rotary milking systems, where dairy animals are milked automatically, i.e. robot assisted, while standing on a rotating platform. In such systems, one or more robots are typically located either on the outside of the outer circumference of the platform, or inside of the inner circumference of the platform, depending on how the animals are oriented on the platform during milking. There are also other types of AMSs, where dairy animals may enter a stationary milking station, e.g. when determined to have a milking permission. On dairy farms with AMS systems, detailed information about the milking sessions can typically be seen in real time on displays connected to the highly advanced, and often expensive, milking equipment, and data can also be collected by the same highly advanced milking equipment and be supplied to a herd management system on a computer. Automatic milking systems are typically used together with so-called“loose-housing”, and the dairy animals are brought to, or come voluntarily to the so-called milking parlour or milking station. Even though loose-housing systems become more and more common, the stall barn or stanchion barn animal housing type is still widely used in many parts of the world. In a stall barn, each animal is tied up in a stall for resting, feeding, milking, and watering. This type of housing is, by tradition, often used in countries with a cold climate, and also by farmers having small herds and/ or limited access to pastures. Stall barn milking may be used for whole herds or for parts of herds, such as e.g. for milking sick cows or older cows that do not fit a main automatic milking system used for the rest of the herd.

Stall barn milking equipment typically comprises Portable Milking Units (PMUs), which can be moved to a desired milking position and thus also between milking positions. One type of PMUs is temporarily connected to milk and vacuum connectors during milking at different positions in a stall barn. For example, PMUs may be movable along an over-head rail arrangement to different milking positions in a stall barn, and thus each PMU could be used for milking dairy animals in a plurality of different milking positions in the stall barn.

There is also another type of PMUs which is not connected to vacuum or milk connectors provided e.g. in a barn, but include a vacuum unit and a milk container, typically a so-called “milk bucket”, in addition to comprising a cluster of teat cups, etc. Such PMUs are often referred to as“Bucket Milking Units” (BMUs). Such units are typically used by farmers having small herds, e.g. in India, comprising 2-8 animals. The benefits of a BMU for these farmers is that it is relatively cheap, as compared to more advanced systems, and that it can be brought to the animals wherever they are kept, such as in a shed, yard or in a remote field.

Milking into a milk bucket using a milking machine, or by hand, is herein referred to as“bucket milking”. The milk buckets used for this purpose are typically made of metal or plastic. Milk buckets typically have an essentially circular cross section and a handle for facilitating carrying the bucket, e.g. from animal to animal. When in use, the bucket is typically placed on a support surface, such as a floor, the ground, or a carriage.

Milk from several animals is often harvested into the same bucket, and when one bucket is full, it is exchanged for another, empty one. After milking, the milk buckets are transported to a cooling facility, where their contents can be cooled, e.g. by being poured into a cooling tank or by being otherwise stored in a refrigerator or cold room. For farmers harvesting milk in this manner, there is not much information available helping the farmer to keep informed about the production of the animals in their herd.

It would for these reasons be desired to provide a milk management assisting tool, which could be used also by a small farm. SUMMARY

It is desirable to access strategic information about the animals in a herd of dairy animals in order to manage them well. It is further desirable to access such strategic information although not having access to advanced milking equipment, such as milk flow meters or barn system controllers, but only e.g. a simple Bucket Milking Unit.

This invention supports management of dairy animals in any environments where bucket milking is used. Embodiments of the invention do not require a local network, and for many implementations, even no network coverage of any kind. Embodiments described herein provide a low cost and low complexity alternative to accessing and storing information about e.g. current milk production of individual animals and their milk production over time. The invention enables immediate access to dairy animal related information by use e.g. of a standard Smart Phone.

According to a first aspect, a dairy animal management supporting device is provided. The device comprises an upper end, configured to connect to a part of a milk bucket. Further, the device also comprises a lower end, configured to interface the device towards a supporting surface. In addition, the device also comprises a fastening means, operable to fasten the upper end of the device to the milk bucket. The device furthermore comprises a weight sensor, configured to sense weight of the milk bucket when connected to the upper end of the device, while the lower end of the device rests on the supporting surface. The device also comprises a processing circuitry, adapted to provide information of the weight sensor to an information device.

According to a second aspect, a method for dairy animal management is provided. The method is performed by a processing circuitry in a dairy animal management supporting device according to the first aspect, to which a milk bucket has been fastened. The method comprises the steps of obtaining a first sensor value from a weight sensor of the device. Further, the method also comprises zeroing weight of the milk bucket, based on the obtained first sensor value. The method in addition comprises detecting that a first milking session is terminated. Furthermore, the method comprises obtaining a second sensor value from the weight sensor, upon detection of the first milking session termination. The method also comprises providing information based on the obtained second sensor value to an information device.

According to a third aspect, a method in an information device is provided, operable to communicate using short-range wireless communication, for dairy animal management of milk related information received from the dairy animal management supporting device according to the first aspect. The method comprises the steps of receiving information related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal of the dairy animal management supporting device. Further, the method also comprises determining amount of extracted milk of the specific dairy animal, based on the received information. Also, the method comprises outputting information concerning the determined amount of extracted milk of the specific dairy animal.

Thanks to the described aspects, by fastening the dairy animal management supporting device comprising a weight sensor, to the milk bucket, it becomes possible to measure the amount of extracted milk extracted from each animal at the farm, as well as the summarised amount of extracted milk. By transmitting collected data of the milk, such as weight, to the information device, the collected data may be outputted to the farmer in a comprehensible and easily understood manner, for example visually, graphically, and/ or animatedly. The farmer may thereby for example be able to determine where (in a lactation cycle of the animal), the animal currently is situated, which is important e.g. for timing fertilisation, for adjusting fodder composition/ amount, etc.; or determine for example an appropriate moment for decommissioning the animal.

Thereby, the farmer obtains at least a basic animal management support for assisting the farmer.

Other advantages and additional novel features will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the technology disclosed herein will be apparent from the following more particular description of embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the technology disclosed herein.

Figure 1 shows an exemplifying system for dairy animal management, according to an embodiment.

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a dairy animal management supporting device, according to an embodiment.

Figure 3A is a schematic block diagram illustrating a dairy animal management supporting device, according to an embodiment.

Figure 3B is a schematic block diagram illustrating a dairy animal management supporting device, according to an embodiment. Figure 3C is a schematic block diagram illustrating a dairy animal management supporting device, according to an embodiment.

Figure 4A is a schematic block diagram illustrating a cross section of a dairy animal management supporting device, according to an embodiment.

Figure 4B is a schematic block diagram illustrating a cross section of a dairy animal management supporting device, according to an embodiment.

Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplifying method performed by a processing circuitry in a dairy animal management supporting device according to an embodiment.

Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplifying method performed by an information device, according to an embodiment.

Figure 7 shows an exemplifying system for dairy animal management, according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention described herein are defined as a method and a system, which may be put into practice in the embodiments described below. These embodiments may, however, be exemplified and realised in many different forms and are not to be limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these illustrative examples of embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

Still other objects and features may become apparent from the following detailed description, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the herein disclosed embodiments, for which reference is to be made to the appended claims. Further, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

Figure 1 illustrates a system 110 for dairy animal management. The system 1 10 comprises a dairy animal management supporting device 130, to which a milk bucket 120 is fastened.

Milk of an animal 100 is extracted by a farmer to the milk bucket 120 by a manual milk extraction method such as hand milking, or by activating a small scale milking machine (not shown), in an agricultural environment. The milking may for example, however not necessarily, be performed once in the morning and once in the evening. The animal 100 is herein mainly illustrated as being a cow, but may be any arbitrary type of milk producing animal, such as e.g. cow, goat, sheep or dairy buffalo.

The farmer may be e.g. an agronomist, a herdsman, a farm worker or other similar person engaged with extracting milk from an animal into a bucket at a farm. The“farm” as the term herein is used may be a barn, a ranch, a stable, an enclosure or other similar agricultural structure for keeping animals.

The extracted milk is collected in the bucket 120, and the weight of the extracted milk may thereby be sensed by the dairy animal management supporting device 130 which comprises a weight sensor, or similar unit configured for weight estimation. When the milking session of the animal 100 is terminated, the total weight of the milk extracted/ harvested from the animal during the milking session may be determined by the dairy animal management supporting device 130, given that the weight of the bucket 120, and its possible contents of milk from other animals is known, (e.g. registered/ measured) before or at the start of the milking session

The weight sensor may comprise for example a load cell, which is a transducer that is used to create an electrical signal whose magnitude is proportional to the force being measured. Such a load cell may comprise e.g. a strain gauge load cell, a piezoelectric load cell, etc.

Depending on whether it is only the total milk yield during the milking session that is of interest, or if it is also the milk flow over time during the milking session that is of interest, the weight of the milk could be obtained in different ways, e.g. either only before and after the milking session, or alternatively also be obtained repeatedly during the milking session. It may be determined that the milking session is started or terminated e.g. by receiving a confirming input by the farmer (e.g. pressing a button on the device 130 for confirming that the milking session of the animal 100 is to start or is terminated), or by detecting a characteristic change in weight or weight increase, e.g. during a threshold time period which may be predetermined or configurable. Termination of the milking session could alternatively be performed or at least verified by detecting that the dairy animal management supporting device 130/ bucket 120 is moved (from the animal 100 to another animal), e.g. lifted from the ground, or other similar method. The movement of the supporting device 130/ bucket 120 could be determined e.g. by an accelerometer, or similar sensor, integrated in the supporting device 130.

Information concerning the weight of the extracted milk (or alternatively, the volume of the extracted milk, calculated based on conversion of the weight of the extracted milk by knowing density of the milk) may then be provided to an information device 140. The information may be transferred via a wired or wireless communication interface. The information device 140 may be separate from the dairy animal management supporting device 130, and comprise for example a mobile cellular telephone such as a smart phone, a computer tablet, a portable or stationary computer or a display unit. The information device 140 may alternatively be situated on, or at least be closely associated with the dairy animal management supporting device 130, e.g. in form of a display unit incorporated with or attached to the dairy animal management supporting device 130.

Given that most farmers have access to a Smart Phone or similar portable device such as a computer tablet, a portable computer, smart watch, etc., or may at least be willing to take the, often modest, investment of such a portable device, since such a device is useful for many different purposes, such a device is envisaged as a very convenient information device 140.

The information device 140, e.g. embodied as a Smart Phone or a similar device are typically operable for short-range communication using e.g. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi; and may also be operable for long-range communication using a 2G, 3G, 4G and/ or 5G standard, or similar standard.

For embodiments of the invention which do not utilise long-range communication, the long- range functionality of the information device 140/ smart phone may be disabled or non-existing, e.g. the information device 140/ smart phone could be put in flight mode, or not be provided with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)-card, or corresponding.

The information device 140 may output the obtained information, e.g. on a display 150 of the information device 140 and/ or a loudspeaker of the information device 140. In some embodiments, the information device 140 may comprise a memory for storing extracted milk amount (such as weight/ volume), e.g. associated with a time stamp and/ or a unique identification reference of the animal 100. Thereby, a comparison may be made, e.g. between extracted milk amount of a certain animal 100 over time and it may be outputted e.g. where upon a lactation curve, the animal 100 is situated, which is an important information for the farmer in order to arrange fertilisation of the animal 100, for example. Further, a comparison may be made of milk production between different animals in the herd of the farmer. Also, the total amount of extracted milk of the herd may be calculated and output to the farmer; and/ or the amount of payment that will be obtained when selling the milk.

Milk buckets 120, are used in many dairy farms today. Thereby, the farmer may not get the information desired for an efficient milk management. Thus valuable information, which could be used for managing dairy animals, e.g. to increase production, is overlooked.

The dairy animal management supporting devices 130 may in some embodiments comprise an animal identification unit, for obtaining an animal identity; and/or a local clock unit. The dairy animal management supporting devices 130 may in some embodiments be configured to receive information from the information device 140, or from external sensors which may be put in the milk of the bucket 120 for detecting blood in the milk, progesterone, LDH (Lactate Dehydrogenase), BHB (Beta-Hydroxybutyrat) and/ or urea.

In some embodiments, the data provided by the dairy animal management supporting device 130 to the information device 140, e.g. over a short-range wireless link, may be organised as, or comprised in, a milking report, which comprises at least information indicative of a milk yield of the specific dairy animal 100 during the milking session.

The data provided by the device 130 may further comprise time information related to the milking session, such as time of day when starting and/ or completing the milking session, and even a calculated momentary milk flow per time unit. The data may further comprise an identifier of the specific dairy animal 100 obtained by the device 130. However, for embodiments of the most basic types of dairy animal management supporting devices 130, an identity of the specific dairy animal 100 may be indicated, e.g. by the farmer directly into the information device 140, and time information may be associated with or assigned to the data by the information device 140, based on an internal time reference of the information device 140, e.g. upon receiving of the data.

Furthermore, the information device 140 may store the received data, in a memory. The information device 140 may also retrieve previously stored data related to one or more previous milking sessions from a memory. Also, the information device 140 may provide a representation of the received data and the retrieved previously stored data, for display on the display 150 of the information device 140. The memory in which the data may be stored, and the memory from which the stored data may be retrieved may be a local memory in the information device 140. Use of a local memory is beneficial for cases where the information device 140 is not reliably connected to any communication network. The received data and/ or the stored data could alternatively or in addition be stored in a remote server. In such cases, the action“storing the received data in a memory”, performed by the information device 140 may comprise providing the received data to a remote server for storage. Correspondingly, the action“retrieving data from a memory” then may comprise receiving the data from a remote server, e.g. upon request or in response to storing the data. The providing of data to a remote memory/ server may be accomplished e.g. by transmission of the data over a long-range wireless communication system. In case the information device 140 has current access to a Wi-Fi network, the providing could alternatively be performed via said Wi-Fi network.

The representation of the received data and the retrieved previously stored data, provided for output on the display 150, may comprise coordinates composed of, or comprising, a milk yield or flow value and a time value in some optional embodiments. Thereby, the yield or flow of the current milking session can easily, and directly, be evaluated against the milk yield or flow, from the same specific animal 100, during a preceding milking session or set of preceding milking sessions. The yield or flow of a specific animal may also be compared with the yield or flow of one or more other animals, e.g. in the same herd. The milk yield or flow value may be an array of values comprising information from both the received data and/ or stored data. Alternatively, or in addition, the representation could comprise a difference between the received data and stored data.

In embodiments where the milk flow is measured by the dairy animal management supporting device 130 and provided to the information device 140, the milk flow per time unit for a current milking session can be compared to the corresponding milk flow per time unit for a previous milking session. If a dairy animal 100 releases its milk more slowly during a current milking session than a previous one, this may be an indication e.g. of a developing udder infection, which then could be immediately investigated and attended to by a herdsman, veterinarian, or other skilled humanoid.

Another situation where milk is typically harvested into a milk bucket is when milking colostrum milk, i.e. during the first milkings of an animal after parturition. Colostrum contains antibodies to protect the new-born against disease. Colostrum is crucial for new-born farm animals. They receive no passive transfer of immunity via the placenta before birth, so any antibodies that they need have to be ingested (unless supplied by injection or other artificial means).

Livestock breeders commonly bank colostrum from their animals. Colostrum can be stored frozen but it does lose some of its inherent quality. Colostrum produced on a breeder's own premises is considered to be superior to colostrum from other sources, because it is produced by animals already exposed to (and, thus, making antibodies to) pathogens occurring on the premises.

Thus, in order to separate the colostrum milk, a milk hose from a milking machine, normally connected to a delivery pipe for leading the harvested milk to a common milk tank, could instead be connected to a milk bucket. The harvested colostrum could then be poured from the milk bucket into a special container, in which it can be stored in a freezer for later use. For colostrum, it is also of interest to keep track of from which specific animal it is harvested, and when. Therefore, in some embodiments, information on animal identity and/or time of harvest could be transferred from the dairy animal management supporting device 130, or from the information device 140 to such a colostrum container, given that the container can receive and store such information.

Figure 2 illustrates a dairy animal management supporting device 130 which has been fastened to a milk bucket 120. The milk bucket 120, or milk churn/ milk can, may typically comprise a watertight entity made in metal, plastic, ceramics, glass, wood or other similar material, in the shape of e.g. a vertical cylinder or truncated cone, with an open top and a more or less flat bottom, possibly attached to a semi-circular carrying handle, or bail.

The milk bucket 120 with the fastened dairy animal management supporting device 130 is situated on a supporting surface 200, such as a barn floor, a farmyard, a meadow, a piece of ground, etc., which may be more or less horizontal or uneven.

The underneath or lower end of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may be configured for resting on the supporting surface 200, preferably in a stable manner. In some embodiments, the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may comprise three legs, distributed more or less equidistantly around the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130.

Thereby, certain advantages are achieved, e.g. any, some or all of the legs may be depressed into the ground; leading to that the dairy animal management supporting device 130 with the milk bucket 120 may be placed so that the liquid surface in the milk bucket 120 is approximately horizontal, also when the supporting surface 200 is inclining, for example when milking outdoors in hilly terrain.

Another advantage of a three leg interface towards the supporting surface 200 is that it becomes less unstable than if four legs are used, in case the supporting surface 200 is not perfectly flat.

However, the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may comprise more than three legs, or alternatively, no legs.

In some embodiments, the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may be completely, or substantially flat. An advantage therewith is that the height of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 becomes low, which means that the milk bucket 120 could be higher and thereby accommodate more milk, without interfering with the teats of the animal 100 in case of hand milking.

In yet some embodiments, the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may comprise protrusions interfacing the supporting surface 200, such as e.g. three protrusions, more or less equidistantly distributed around the underneath.

In some further embodiments, the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may comprise a protruding circular profile, circumventing the underneath along the edge of the underneath, such that at least part of the profile is in contact with a supporting surface 200, when the device 130 is placed on such a surface 200. For example, the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 could have a concave bottom shape, like a bottle, or a surface interfacing edge circumventing the bottom of the device 130, as schematically illustrated in Figure 4A and Figure 4B.

The dairy animal management supporting device 130 may, for a longer or shorter time, be fastened, or connected, to the milk bucket 120, in such a manner that the milk bucket 120 could be lifted by the farmer, e.g. by using the handle on the bucket 120, without dropping the dairy animal management supporting device 130. That is, the device 130 will continue to be fastened to the milk bucket 120 also when the milk bucket 120 is lifted from the ground. Thereby, the milk bucket 120 and the device 130 may be easily transported, as one unit, by the farmer by lifting and transporting it from one animal to another, without risk of losing the dairy animal management supporting device 130 or its association to the milk bucket.

The dairy animal management supporting device 130 may be fastened to the milk bucket 120 in a plurality of different ways by a releasable fastening means. Some examples of releasable fastening means may comprise for example spring clamps, a belt or rope, screw joints, hose clamps, snap fasteners, a compression fitting, or push-fit fitting based on friction and/ or flexibility of an involved material such as rubber etc.

In some embodiments, the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may be implemented by comprising a processing circuitry and a communication interface. The processing circuitry may be configured to cause the device 130 to provide data related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal 100 to the information device 140 over a short-range wireless link. The processing circuitry may further be configured to cause the device 130 to request, and receive, a time reference from the information device 140. The communication interface, which may also be denoted e.g. Input/ Output (I/O) interface, may comprise an interface for sending data to, and receiving data from, one or several information devices 140.

An embodiment of the processing circuitry may comprise a processing device, such as a general-purpose microprocessor, e.g. a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and a memory, in communication with the processing device, that may store or hold instruction code readable and executable by the processing device. The instruction code stored or held in the memory may be in the form of a computer program, which when executed by the processing device may cause the dairy animal management supporting device 130 to perform the various actions according to the methods as herein described. An alternative implementation of the processing circuitry may in some embodiments comprise a data providing unit, for causing the dairy animal management supporting device 130 to provide data related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal directly to the information devices 140 over a short-range wireless link. The processing circuitry may further comprise a time unit for causing the device 130 to request and receive a time reference from the information devices 140. The processing circuitry could comprise more units, such as e.g. a time set unit for causing the device 130 to calibrate a local clock unit based on a received time reference.

The dairy animal management supporting device 130 described above could be configured for the different method embodiments described herein, e.g. in regard of what is comprised in the provided information.

The dairy animal management supporting device 130 may be assumed to comprise further functionality, for carrying out regular functions of dairy animal management supporting devices.

The herein made description of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 is not intended be limiting. The processing circuitry may also be implemented by other techniques known in the art, such as, e.g., hard-wired transistor logic or application-specific integrated circuits arranged in a manner sufficient to carry out the actions of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 as described above.

Figure 3A illustrates an example of a dairy animal management supporting device 130 according to an embodiment. The device 130 comprises an upper end 310 and a lower end 320. The upper end 310 is configured to connect to a part of a milk bucket 120 while the lower end 320, configured to interface the device 130 towards a supporting surface 200.

The upper part 310 of the device 130 may comprise an inner surface 311 and an outer surface 312, wherein the inner surface 311 is configured to circumvent the milk bucket 120, when the upper part 310 is connected to the milk bucket 1 10.

The device 130 comprises a weight sensor 330, configured to sense weight of the milk bucket 120 when connected to the upper end 310 of the device 130, while the lower end 320 of the device 130 rests on the supporting surface 200.

Furthermore, the device 130 comprises a processing circuitry 340, adapted to provide information of the weight sensor 330 to an information device 140.

The processing circuitry 340 may comprise a communication interface, operable to communicate via short range wireless communication with the information device 140, in some embodiments. The processing circuitry 340 may in some embodiments be adapted to obtain information from the weight sensor 330 repeatedly during the milking session. Thus, the processing circuitry 340 may receive weight data from the weight sensor 330 repeatedly at a predetermined or configurable time interval, or continuously. Further, the processing circuitry 340 is configured to provide information to the information device 140, based on the repeatedly obtained information from the weight sensor 330. Information could be provided to the information device 140 repeatedly during the milking session (e.g. when the time is associated to the information when received by the information device), or, when the milking session is terminated. The manner of transferring data from the device 130 to the information device 140 may be preconfigured and/or configurable by a user. The transfer of information may be triggered by a user, e.g. by pressing a button on the dairy animal management supporting device 130 or on the information device.

The device 130 also comprises a source of energy 345, such as a battery, a power outlet, or similar means for providing electricity to the processing circuitry 340 and/ or the weight sensor 330. The source of energy 345, when embodied as a rechargeable battery, may be charged wirelessly by induction in some embodiments. Inductive battery chargers use electromagnetic induction to charge batteries. A charging station may then send electromagnetic energy through an inductive coupling to an electrical device, which stores the energy in the batteries. This is achieved without the need for metal contacts between the charger and the battery. Thereby, because there are no open electrical contacts, there is no risk of electrocution. An advantage therewith is that the battery could be completely encapsulated, thereby reducing risks of intruding moisture, or dirt. However, in other embodiments, the battery may be charged by direct contact via a battery charger, or be changed.

In addition, the device 130 comprises a fastening means 350, operable to fasten the upper end 310 of the device 130 to the milk bucket 120.

In the illustrated example, the fastening means 350 comprises a screw/ band hose clamp operable to adjust the circumference of the upper part 310 of the device 130.

When fastening the milk bucket 120 into the dairy animal management supporting device 130, the milk bucket 120 may be inserted into the device 130 such that the inner surface 311 of the upper part of the device 130 circumvents a lower part of the milk bucket 120, in a gentle, yet determined movement. The screw/ band hose clamp may then adjust the circumference of the upper part 310 of the device 130 when tightened and thereby radically increase friction between the milk bucket 120 and the inner surface 311 of the upper part 310 of the device 130, sufficiently to maintain the device 130 fastened to the milk bucket 120 also when the milk bucket 120 is lifted. Figure 3B illustrates an example of a dairy animal management supporting device 130 according to an embodiment, similar to, but not identical with, the dairy animal management supporting device 130 illustrated in Figure 3A.

In this embodiment, the fastening means 350 comprises at least one protrusion 360a, 360b, 360c of the inner surface 31 1. The protrusions 360a, 360b, 360c may be flexible and configured to fixate the milk bucket 120 when it is inserted into the dairy animal management supporting device 130. In some embodiments, the milk bucket 120 may comprise cavities corresponding to the protrusions 360a, 360b, 360c of the device 130, for fixating the milk bucket 120 therein.

Furthermore, the illustrated embodiment comprises a time measuring unit 370. The time measuring unit 370 may comprise a clock, or similar device for measuring time and/ or date.

The processing circuitry 340 may be adapted to provide a time indication of the time measuring unit 370 in the information provided to the information device 140. It is hereby possible to determine length of the milking session, time of the milking session, etc., information which may be associated with the milking session and stored in a memory and/ or provided to the information device 140.

The illustrated embodiment of the device 130 also comprises an information device 140 with a display 150 for outputting information concerning the milking, to the farmer, e.g. in form of numbers and/ or letters, figures, graphs, and/ or animations.

An advantage of having the information device 140 integrated with the dairy animal management supporting device 130 is that the farmer has immediate access to the obtained information and immediately can react on the information.

Figure 3C illustrates yet an example of a dairy animal management supporting device 130 according to an embodiment, similar to, but not identical with, the dairy animal management supporting devices 130 illustrated in Figure 3A and/ or Figure 3B.

In the illustrated example, the fastening means 350 comprises threads, configured to fasten into the upper part 310 of the device 130 and act on the milk bucket 120, when the upper part 310 of the device 130 is connected to the milk bucket 120. The upper part 310 of the device 130 may have a threaded hole into which screws may be inserted for fixating the milk bucket 120 into the dairy animal management supporting devices 130.

In the illustrated embodiment comprises a plurality of weight sensors 330, distributed over the interface surface between the milk bucket 120 and the dairy animal management supporting devices 130, for measuring the milk weight. Figure 4A illustrates a cross section of the embodiment of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 similar to, but not identical with the previously illustrated embodiment of the device 130 in Figure 3C.

The weight sensor 330 may be situated between the upper end 310 and the lower end 320 of the device 130, for measuring the weight of the milk bucket 120 and its content. The weight sensor 330 may be encapsulated in some embodiments for avoiding that dirt enters the device 130 and affect the weight sensor 330 and/ or the processing circuitry 340 or other electronics of the device 130.

The lower end 320 of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 in the illustrated example comprises a protruding circular profile, circumventing the underneath along the edge of the underneath, giving the underneath of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 a bottle bottom shape.

An advantage therewith is that the device 130 may be placed in a stable manner also on an uneven surface 200, while still being easily placeable on a hand truck, a two wheeler, stack truck, or similar transportation vehicle, e.g. for inter-animal transportation of the milk bucket 120 and the device 130 at the barn / agricultural environment.

Figure 4B also illustrates a cross section of an embodiment of the dairy animal management supporting device 130.

The fastening means 350 in this embodiment comprises a flexible element such as a rubber tube, a metal spring, a spring clip or similar resilient member, fixated onto the inner surface 31 1 of the upper part 310 of the device 130. Also the upper part 310 of the device 130 may be flexible. When the milk bucket 120 is inserted into the upper part 310 of the device 130, the flexible element due to its flexible pressure exerted in the side of the milk bucket 120, and also due to the friction capacity of the flexible element, fasten the milk bucket 120 into the device 130.

Figure 4C illustrates a cross section of an embodiment of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 and an example of a milk bucket 120.

The illustrated milk bucket 120 comprises a handle 410 and also a ridge 420, circumventing the milk bucket 120; although other embodiments may lack any or both of the handle 410 and/ or the ridge 420.

The dairy animal management supporting device 130 in the depicted embodiment comprises a fastening means 350, embodied as a snap fastener. When fastening the dairy animal management supporting device 130 onto the bucket 120, i.e. when descending the milk bucket 120 in the approximate direction of the arrow, into the upper part 31 O of the device 130, the fastening means 350, which may be flexible or resilient in some embodiments, may snap around the ridge 420 of the bucket 120. Thereby, the milk bucket 120 and the dairy animal management supporting device 130 are engaged with each other in a way such that the dairy animal management supporting device 130 is fixated to the bucket 120 when the bucket 120 is lifted from the ground, e.g. by the handle 410 of the bucket 120.

Figure 5 illustrates an exemplifying first method 500 for dairy animal management, performed by a processing circuitry 340 in a dairy animal management supporting device 130 to which a milk bucket 120 has been fastened.

In order to correctly be able to perform the dairy animal management, the method 500 may comprise a number of steps 501 -507. However, some of these steps 501-507 may be performed solely in some alternative embodiments, like e.g. steps 505-506. Further, the described steps 501-507 may be performed in a somewhat different chronological order than the numbering suggests. The method 500 may comprise the subsequent steps:

Step 501 comprises obtaining a first sensor value from a weight sensor 330 of the device 130. The measurement may be made when the milk bucket 120 has been fastened to the device 130.

Step 502 comprises zeroing weight of the milk bucket 120, based on the obtained 501 first sensor value.

It thereby becomes possible to determine the weight of extracted milk, independently of the weight of the milk bucket 120, or whether the milk bucket 120 contains milk from a previous milking session of some other animal.

Step 503 comprises detecting that a first milking session is terminated.

The detection may be made e.g. by the farmer indicating termination of the milking session by pressing a button on the dairy animal management supporting device 130, or on the information device 140. In some embodiments, the farmer may also indicate an identity of the animal, e.g. by entering a name of the animal 100 or a reference number.

However, the detection of the milk session termination may be determined by detecting a stop in weight increase of the milk bucket 120, exceeding a threshold time limit. Further, the detection of the milk session termination may be determined by detecting a movement of the milk bucket 120 and the dairy animal management supporting device 130, possibly in combination with detection of lack of weight increase. Step 504 comprises obtaining a second sensor value from the weight sensor 330, upon detection 503 of the first milking session termination.

The obtained sensor values are repeatedly obtained from the weight sensor 330 until it is detected 503 that the first milking session is terminated.

Step 505, which only may be performed in some alternative embodiments, comprises detecting that a second milking session, succeeding the first milking session, is terminated.

The optional second milking session may be performed with an animal distinct from the animal 100 of the first milking session.

Step 506, which only may be performed in some alternative embodiments wherein step 505 has been performed, comprises obtaining a third sensor value from the weight sensor 330, upon detection of the second milking session termination.

The detection of the second milking session termination may be made in the same or similar manner as the above described detection of the first milking session termination.

Step 507 comprises providing information based on the obtained second sensor value to an information device 140, comprising e.g. a mobile telephone, a touchscreen, a computer tablet, a display, etc.

The provided information may in some embodiments be based on the repeatedly obtained 501 , 504 sensor values.

The provided information may be based on the obtained 506 sensor value.

The weight of the extracted milk of the animal 100 may thereby be outputted to the information device 140, which in turn may output the information to the farmer.

The described exemplifying method 500 may be performed by an arrangement comprising the dairy animal management supporting device 130 and the information device 140, as described above. The method 500 may comprise that the device 130 provides data, directly to the information device 140, e.g. via a wireless short-range link, and the information device 140 receives the data provided by the device 130.

Figure 6 illustrates an exemplifying second method 600 in an information device 140 operable to communicate using short-range wireless communication. The method 600 aims at dairy animal management of milk related information received from the dairy animal management supporting device 130. In order to communicate the dairy animal management of milk related information correctly, the method 600 may comprise a number of steps 601 -607. However, some of these steps 601- 607 may be performed solely in some alternative embodiments, like e.g. steps 602-603 and/ or steps 605-606. Further, the described steps 601-607 may be performed in a somewhat different chronological order than the numbering suggests. The method 600 may comprise the subsequent steps:

Step 601 comprises receiving information related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal of the dairy animal management supporting device 130.

The received information may comprise a unique identifier of the specific dairy animal 100, such as a unique name, an identification number, identification code or similar reference.

Step 602, which only may be performed in some alternative embodiments, comprises obtaining a time reference upon reception 601 of information related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal 100, of the dairy animal management supporting device 130.

Step 603, which only may be performed in some alternative embodiments wherein step 602 has been performed, comprises associating the obtained 602 time reference with the received 601 information.

Step 604 comprises determining amount of extracted milk of the specific dairy animal 100, based on the received 601 information.

Step 605, which only may be performed in some alternative embodiments wherein the information device 140 comprises a memory, comprises storing the received 601 information in the memory.

Step 606, which only may be performed in some alternative embodiments wherein step 605 has been performed, comprises retrieving previously stored information related to one or more previous milking sessions.

Step 607 comprises outputting information concerning the determined 604 amount of extracted milk of the specific dairy animal 100.

The outputted information may comprise a representation of the received data and the retrieved previously stored data for display on a display 150 of the information device 140.

The outputted information may comprise representation of the received data is provided in visual form, enabling evaluation of the milking session in relation to a previously stored milking session. By performing an embodiment of the method 600, it is enabled e.g. immediate access to important information related to milking of the dairy animal 100. The farmer/ herdsman carrying the information device 140 may thus access information on a current milk yield of the dairy animal 100 in relation to a previous milk yield of the same animal 100 (or in relation to another distinct animal) when standing in the barn next to the animal 100, during or immediately after milking of the dairy animal 100. The information device 140 may for example be her/ his (i.e. the farmer’s)“currently in use” personal Smart Phone, but could alternatively be some old Smart Phone degraded from regular continuous use to use in (high-dirt-risk) barn environments, or a dedicated dirt phone for agricultural usage. All sorts of analysis may be performed on the data obtained from the dairy animal management supporting device 130 and the data retrieved from the memory, and the results may be provided for display. The farmer may thus keep informed as he/ she works with milking of the dairy animals e.g. in a stall barn.

The retrieved, stored data would typically comprise data related to the specific dairy animal 100 associated with the data obtained from the device 130. However, the stored data could also comprise data related to other animals in the herd, such as e.g. a herd average per milking session including or excluding the specific animal 100 associated with the data, in some embodiments. A user of the information device 140 will thereby have an immediate possibility, not only to evaluating the milk production (yield) over time for the specific animal 100, but also to evaluate, e.g. by comparing graphs, the milk yield over time in relation to the yield over time for other animals in the herd, such as e.g. average group or herd performance. Dairy animals could immediately, while standing in the barn, be evaluated and compared with respect to e.g. total milk production (yield); average milk production, e.g. per session or per selected time interval; milk flow (for embodiments of dairy animal management supporting devices 130 configured to provide milk flow information); milking time; milking time per session (for embodiments of the devices 130 providing timing information) and/ or session conductivity (for embodiments of dairy animal management supporting devices 130 providing information about conductivity).

That is, by using an embodiment of the method 600 described above, milk yield and other aspects of different animals during different milking sessions and time periods may be immediately analysed and compared. All that is required is a dairy animal management supporting device 130 and an information device 140 configured to perform an embodiment of the method 600. Thereby, embodiments of the invention may enable dairy animal management by simple means, also in lo-tech environments, e.g. without a computer, a local network, electricity or network coverage.

The described exemplifying method 600 may be performed by an arrangement comprising the dairy animal management supporting device 130 and the information device 140, as described above. The method 600 may comprise that the device 130 provides data, directly to the information device 140, e.g. via a wireless short-range link, and the information device 140 receives the data provided by the device 130.

The method 600 further may comprise that when an indicator is comprised in, or derived from, the obtained data, received by the information device 140 is determined to meet a threshold limit, an auditory, visual and/ or tactile alarm signal may be triggered to be presented by the information device 140. By“meeting a threshold” is meant fulfilling a criterion related to the threshold value, such as: being equal to, exceeding or falling below the threshold value. Which of the criteria that is used will depend on how the threshold is formulated. The determining of whether the indicator meets a threshold could be performed by the information device 140, but could alternatively be performed in another node, such as a remote server, for embodiments involving communication with a remote server.

A specific type of alarm could be configured to be connected to a distinct sound, light or vibration, which may allow a farmer to identify the type and/ or seriousness of a triggered alarm. In addition to alarms for anomalies in milk yield could be implemented, such as triggering an alarm when the milk yield is a certain amount lower than an expected milk yield, and/or when a milking time is shorter than an expected milking time. The expected milk yield or milking time of a dairy animal may be determined based on data from previous milking sessions or be retrieved as a predefined reference value e.g. from a memory. One or more threshold limits for each of the different alarm types may be predetermined and be retrievable from a memory.

Further, an indication of an alarm incident may optionally be stored in association with the received data. That is, an indication of a triggered alarm may be stored together with a reference to the stored data; or, the indication of an alarm could be stored together with the data, such that the information is linked. The benefit of this is e.g. that a correlation between alarms and other parameters, such as milk yield, milk conductivity or period of lactation, can be derived, leading to advantageous insight into the health, status and performance of the animals at the farm.

Further, the method 600 may optionally also comprise that the information device 140 obtains a confirmation from a user of the information device 140, e.g. the farmer, having observed the alarm, and may also comprise storing an indicator of said confirmation in association with the received data. Thereby, alarms and confirmations of alarms may be associated to a specific dairy animal 100 and milking session for later analysis.

When the indicator comprised in, or derived from, the data received by the information device 140 may be determined not to meet the threshold limit, regular operation may be continued and no alarm may be triggered. The method 600 embodiments described herein may be further improved by addition of a time related feature.

According to some embodiments, the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may request a time reference from the information device 140, by sending a request for a time reference to the information device 140. Further, the information device 140 may receive the request from the dairy animal management supporting device 130, and provide, in response to the received request, a time reference derived from a local clock of the information device 140, to the dairy animal management supporting device 130. The dairy animal management supporting device 130 may receive the time reference provided by the information device 140, and then the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may include time information in the data, provided to the information device 140, where the time information may be based on the received time reference. The request may be sent e.g. before the dairy animal management supporting device 130 starts performing a milking session, and/ or during or after performance of the milking session. More than one request may be sent. One advantage of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 requesting and receiving the time reference from the information device 140 is that the dairy animal management supporting device 130 will thereby have access to a very precise time reference, without the need to comprise an expensive high-quality internal clock. The information device 140, such as Smart Phones, typically comprise very exact internal clock circuits. Thereby, the data provided by the dairy animal management supporting device 130 can be linked to very precise time references, which enables detailed analysis of e.g. milk flow per time unit and over time, although the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may comprise a“less precise” clock, or even no clock at all. An internal clock of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 may be calibrated based on time references obtained from the information device 140 in some embodiments.

The obtained information or data related to the milking performance of the animal 100 may be stored in a remote server or database in some embodiments. Data may further be obtained, by the information device 140, from the remote server in some embodiments.

A particular embodiment of an arrangement comprising the information device 140 and the dairy animal management supporting device 130 in an embodiment where the data may be stored in the remote server and the data may be retrieved from the remote server. The remote server may be implemented as a so-called cloud solution, or virtual machine, on one or more physical machines, which may be located in different places, cities, countries and/ or continents. The information device 140 may communicate with the remote server via a wireless or wired internet connection, via a long-range communication system and/ or a Wi-Fi connection, depending on what is available. The dairy animal management supporting device 130 may perform milking and provide data, to the information device 140, which receives the data, just as described in previous embodiments. When the information device 140 is to store the data, the data, is provided to the remote server. The obtained data and the retrieved data may be assumed to be the same data, but it may be differently packetised, and therefore it may be indicated by separate reference numbers. The information device 140 may further retrieve data from the remote server.

The information device 140 may send a request for data to the remote server, and then receive the data, from the remote server. However, alternatively, the remote server may be configured to provide the data, in response to receiving the data, in which case any explicit request may not be required.

The dairy animal management supporting device 130 may provide information wirelessly to the information device 140. The dairy animal management supporting device 130 and the information device 140 may be located in a stall barn, for example. Further, the information device 140 may communicate with a remote server. For example, the information device 140 may provide data, received from the dairy animal management supporting device 130, to the remote server for storage, and/ or obtain previously stored data from the remote server. The remote server may also provide information to other wireless, or stationary, units.

The storing of data in the memory in the remote server has many advantages. For example, small herd milk producers, e.g. in India, rural parts of Scandinavia, etc., could give access to parts of the stored data to governmental milk agencies, which could provide adequate advice to the milk producers based on their data. This could be expressed as enabling central dairy animal management (e.g. advice from professionals) for farmers not having a local herd management system, or having limited knowledge of how to manage dairy animals based on the acquired information. Applications and interfaces for such purposes could be supplied on the remote server. Further, milk producers themselves and persons which they decide to give access could access the stored data from a number of different platforms, such as browsers or other interfaces on Personal Computers (PCs), tablets or information devices 140 other than the one receiving the data from the dairy animal management supporting device 130.

In some embodiments, a graph of a milk flow, e.g. in kg/ min, may be displayed on the information device 140, concerning the dairy animal 100 over time during a milking session, the graph being based on information and/ or data obtained from the dairy animal management supporting device 130.

Such detailed milk flow data may be provided to the information device 140 by the dairy animal management supporting device 130. Embodiments of the invention enable immediate analysis of such flow graphs on the information device 140 in environments lacking e.g. any network coverage, which is very beneficial. The displayed flow graph could be compared e.g. with flow graphs from one or several previous milking sessions and/ or other reference data, which is also very beneficial.

Outputted milk flow data may comprise a graph of total milk yield, in kg/ pounds, over time (per day or other time period) for e.g. three different dairy animals of the herd. A similar graph showing milk yield per milking session could also be derived. Such data enables analysis of a milk yield of the dairy animal 100 in comparison with previous yields/ results of the dairy animal 100, and in comparison with yields/ results of other herd animals.

Method embodiments described herein could further comprise that the information device 140 obtains, e.g. retrieves or receives, data related to one or more geographically remote milking sessions from a remote server. By“geographically remote” is here meant milking sessions performed in other farms than the farm in which the method is performed. It could be a neighbouring farm, or a farm in another country, etc. Thus, a representation of said obtained reference data could be outputted on the display 150 of the information device 140 as a reference, enabling evaluation of the milking session in relation to the one or more geographically remote milking sessions. Thereby, a dairy farmer could get immediate benchmarking, e.g. in relation to one or more selected dairy farms.

The methods 500, 600 and techniques described above may be implemented in the arrangement comprising the dairy animal management supporting device 130, and the information device 140 as previously described. At least when the short-range communication between the information device 140 and the device 130 may be based on a Bluetooth standard, the units may be configured to be operable to be paired with each other. Although Bluetooth is a preferred alternative, due to its simplicity, other similar standards could be used for the short- range communication between the information device 140 and the dairy animal management supporting device 130, such as the so-called“Wi-Fi Direct” (Wi-Fi P2P). The units may in such case support this other standard and be configured in accordance with that standard. Other types of short-range communication could also be used, based on e.g. Infrared light, IR, or microwave links, or any of the previously enumerated communication standards.

Figure 7 schematically illustrates a system 110 for dairy animal management according to an embodiment. The system 1 10 comprises a milk bucket 120 fastened to a dairy animal management supporting device 130. The system 1 10 also comprises an information device 140.

The dairy animal management supporting device 130 comprises a processing circuitry 340, adapted to provide information of a weight sensor 330 in the device 130, to the information device 140. The processing circuitry 340 may further be configured to obtain information from a time measuring unit 370 and a memory 730.

The processing circuitry 340 may comprise one or more instances of a processing circuit, i.e. a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a processing unit, a processing circuit, a processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a microprocessor, or other processing logic that may interpret and execute instructions. The herein utilised expression“processor” may thus represent a processing circuitry comprising a plurality of processing circuits, such as, e.g., any, some or all of the ones enumerated above.

The memory 730 may comprise a physical device utilised to store data or programs, i.e., sequences of instructions, on a temporary or permanent basis. According to some embodiments, the memory 730 may comprise integrated circuits comprising silicon-based transistors. The memory 730 may comprise e.g. a memory card, a flash memory, a USB memory, a hard disc, or another similar volatile or non-volatile storage unit for storing data such as e.g. ROM (Read-Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable PROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable PROM), etc. in different embodiments.

The processing circuitry 340 may store information obtained from the weight sensor 330, the time measuring unit 370 and/ or the farmer in the memory 730.

The processing circuitry 340 further may comprise a communication interface 710, operable to communicate via short range wireless communication with the information device 140, in some embodiments.

The information device 140 may comprise a portable device such as a cellular telephone, laptop, computer tablet, etc. The information device 140 may with advantage comprise a so- called“Smart Phone”, which operable to communicate is at least using short-range wireless communication, such as Bluetooth, and typically also operable to communicate in a wireless communication network as previously discussed. The information device 140 is configured to perform the actions associated with the information device 140 of at least one of the methods 500, 600, in previously described embodiments. The information device 140 may be associated with the same technical features, objects and advantages as the previously described method embodiments.

Further, the information device 140 may comprise or be connected to a database 720, in which milk weight data may be stored, possibly in association with time data and/ or an identity reference of the animal 100.

The information device 140, according to some embodiments, may be implemented and/ or described as follows: The information device 140 may comprise a processing circuitry and a communication interface. The processing circuitry may be configured to cause the information device 140 to receive, directly from the dairy animal management supporting device 130, over a short-range wireless link, data related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal 100. The information device 140 may be caused to receive data comprising information indicative of a milk yield of the specific dairy animal 100 during the milking session. The processing circuitry may furthermore be configured to cause the information device 140 to store the received data in a memory, and further to retrieve, from a memory or database 720, previously stored data related to one or more previous milking sessions e.g. of the specific dairy animal 100. The processing circuitry may further be configured to cause the information device 140 to provide a representation of the received data and the retrieved previously stored data for output on the display 150 of the information device 140. The providing of a representation may enable that received data and the retrieved previously stored data may be displayed simultaneously, and/ or enable that a relation between the received data and the retrieved previously stored data may be displayed.

The communication interface, which may also be denoted e.g. Input/ Output (I/O) interface, includes an interface for sending data to and receiving data from other nodes or entities, and base stations in a wireless communication system.

The processing circuitry which comprises a processing device, such as a general-purpose microprocessor, e.g. a CPU, and a memory, in communication with the processing device, that stores or holds instruction code readable and executable by the processing device. The instruction code stored or held in the memory may be in the form of a computer program, which when executed by the processing device causes the information device 140 to perform the actions in the manner described above.

An alternative implementation of the processing circuitry may comprise a receiving unit for causing the information device 140 to receive, directly from the device 130, or from another similar unity, over a short-range wireless link, data related to the milking session of the specific dairy animal 100. The processing circuitry further may comprise a storing unit, for causing the information device 140 to store the received data in a memory. The processing circuitry further may comprise a retrieving unit, for causing the information device 140 to retrieve, from a memory, previously stored data related to one or more previous milking sessions. The processing circuitry further comprises a providing unit for causing the information device 140 to provide a representation of the received data and the retrieved previously stored data for display on a display of the information device 140.

The processing circuitry could comprise more units configured to cause the information device 140 to perform actions associated with one or more of the method embodiments described herein. For example, the processing circuitry could comprise a time unit for providing a time reference derived from a local clock of the information device 140 to the device 130, e.g. upon the receiving of an explicit or implicit request for such a time reference. The processing circuitry could alternatively or in addition comprise a triggering unit for causing the information device 140 to trigger an auditory, visual and/or tactile alarm signal to be presented. This, and other tasks, could alternatively be performed by one of the other units.

The information device 140 may be assumed to comprise further functionality, for carrying out regular functions of the information device 140.

The foregoing description of the information device 140 is not intended be limiting. The processing circuitry may also be implemented by other techniques known in the art, such as, e.g., hard-wired transistor logic or application-specific integrated circuits arranged in a manner sufficient to carry out the actions of the information device 140 as described above.

Furthermore, a computer program may perform the method 500 for dairy animal management, performed by a processing circuitry 340 in a dairy animal management supporting device 130, and/ or the method 600 in an information device 140 operable to communicate using short- range wireless communication, for dairy animal management of milk related information received from the dairy animal management supporting device 130, when loaded into the processing circuitry 340, and/ or the information device 140.

The computer program mentioned above may be provided for instance in the form of a computer-readable medium, i.e. a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing at least some of the computer program steps, according to some embodiments when being loaded into the one or more processing circuitries 340 of the dairy animal management supporting device 130 and/ or the information device 140. The data carrier may be, e.g., a hard disk, a CD ROM disc, a memory stick, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device or any other appropriate medium such as a disk or tape that may hold machine readable data in a non-transitory manner. The computer program may furthermore be provided as computer program code on a server and downloaded to the processing circuitry 340, and/ or the information device 140 remotely, e.g. over an Internet or an intranet connection.

To summarise, the steps, functions, procedures, modules, units and/ or blocks described herein may be implemented in hardware using any conventional technology, such as discrete circuit or integrated circuit technology, including both general-purpose electronic circuitry and application-specific circuitry. Alternatively, at least some of the steps, functions, procedures, modules, units and/ or blocks described above may be implemented in software such as a computer program for execution by suitable processing circuitry including one or more processing units. The software could be carried by a carrier, such as an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium before and/ or during the use of the computer program in the nodes.

The flow diagram or diagrams presented herein may be regarded as a computer flow diagram or diagrams, when performed by one or more processing circuitries. A corresponding apparatus may be defined as a group of function modules, where each step performed by the processor corresponds to a function module. In this case, the function modules are implemented as a computer program running on the processing circuitry.

It should also be understood that it may be possible to re-use the general processing capabilities of any conventional device or unit in which the proposed technology is implemented. It may also be possible to re-use existing software, e.g. by reprogramming of the existing software or by adding new software components.

The embodiments described above are merely given as examples, and it should be understood that the proposed technology is not limited thereto. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the present scope. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible.

When using the word "comprise" or“comprising” it shall be interpreted as non- limiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of".

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, the functions/ acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts and/ or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/ or the functionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/ or block diagrams may be at least partially integrated. Finally, other blocks may be added/ inserted between the blocks that are illustrated, and/ or blocks/ operations may be omitted without departing from the scope of inventive concepts.

It is to be understood that the choice of interacting units, as well as the naming of the units within this disclosure are only for exemplifying purpose, and nodes suitable to execute any of the methods described above may be configured in a plurality of alternative ways in order to be able to execute the suggested procedure actions.

It should also be noted that the units described in this disclosure are to be regarded as logical entities and not with necessity as separate physical entities.

Claims

1. A dairy animal management supporting device (130), comprising:

an upper end (310), configured to connect to a part of a milk bucket (120);

a lower end (320), configured to interface the device (130) towards a supporting surface (200);

a fastening means (350), operable to fasten the upper end (310) of the device (130) to the milk bucket (120);

a weight sensor (330), configured to sense weight of the milk bucket (120) when connected to the upper end (310) of the device (130), while the lower end (320) of the device (130) rests on the supporting surface (200); and

a processing circuitry (340), adapted to provide information of the weight sensor (330) to an information device (140).

2. The device (130) according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a time measuring unit (360); and

wherein the processing circuitry (340) is adapted to provide a time indication of the time measuring unit (360) in the information provided to the information device (140).

3. The device (130) according to any one of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry (340) comprises a communication interface (710) operable to communicate via short range wireless communication with the information device (140).

4. The device (130) according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the upper part (310) of the device (130) comprises an inner surface (31 1) and an outer surface (312), wherein the inner surface (311) is configured to circumvent the milk bucket (120), when the upper part (310) is connected to the milk bucket (120).

5. The device (130) according to claim 4, wherein the fastening means (350) are operable to adjust the circumference of the upper part (310) of the device (130).

6. The device (130) according to claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the fastening means (350) comprises at least one protrusion (360a, 360b, 360c) of the inner surface (31 1).

7. The device (130) according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the fastening means (350) comprises threads, configured to fasten into the upper part (310) of the device (130) and act on the milk bucket (120), when the upper part (310) of the device (130) is connected to the milk bucket (120).

8. The device (130) according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the fastening means (350) is configured to engage with a lower part of the milk bucket (120), when the milk bucket (120) is connected to the upper part (310) of the device (130).

9. The device (130) according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein the processing circuitry (340) is adapted to:

obtain information from the weight sensor (330) repeatedly during milking; and provide information to the information device (140), based on the repeatedly obtained information from the weight sensor (330).

10. A milk bucket (120), comprising the dairy animal management supporting device (130) according to any one of claims 1-9.

11. A system (110) for dairy animal management, comprising:

the dairy animal management supporting device (130) according to any one of claims 1-9;

a milk bucket (120), configured to be connected to the device (130); and

an information device (140).

12. A method (500) for dairy animal management, performed by a processing circuitry (340) in a dairy animal management supporting device (130) according to any one of claims 1-9, to which a milk bucket (120) has been fastened; which method (500) comprises the steps of:

obtaining (501) a first sensor value from a weight sensor (330) of the device (130); zeroing (502) weight of the milk bucket (120), based on the obtained (501) first sensor value;

detecting (503) that a first milking session is terminated;

obtaining (504) a second sensor value from the weight sensor (330), upon detection (503) of the first milking session termination; and

providing (507) information based on the obtained second sensor value to an information device (140).

13. The method (500) according to claim 12, wherein

the obtained (501 , 504) sensor values are repeatedly obtained from the weight sensor (330) until it is detected (503) that the first milking session is terminated; and

wherein the provided (507) information is based on the repeatedly obtained (501 , 504) sensor values.

14. The method (500) according to any one of claim 12 or claim 13, further comprising: detecting (505) that a second milking session, succeeding the first milking session, is terminated; and

obtaining (506) a third sensor value from the weight sensor (330), upon detection (506) of the second milking session termination; and

wherein the provided (507) information is based on the obtained (506) sensor value.

15. A method (600) in an information device (140) operable to communicate using short- range wireless communication, for dairy animal management of milk related information received from the dairy animal management supporting device (130) according to any one of claims 1-9; which method (600) comprises the steps of:

receiving (601) information related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal of the dairy animal management supporting device (130);

determining (604) amount of extracted milk of the specific dairy animal (100), based on the received (601) information;

outputting (607) information concerning the determined (604) amount of extracted milk of the specific dairy animal (100).

16. The method (600) according to claim 15, wherein the information device (140) comprises a memory (145); and wherein the method (600) further comprises:

storing (605) the received (601) information in the memory (145);

retrieving (606) previously stored information related to one or more previous milking sessions; and

wherein the outputted (607) information comprises a representation of the received data and the retrieved previously stored data for display on a display (150) of the information device (140).

17. The method (600) according to any one of claim 15 or claim 16, comprising:

obtaining (602) a time reference upon reception (601) of information related to a milking session of a specific dairy animal (100), of the dairy animal management supporting device (130); and

associating (603) the obtained (602) time reference with the received (601) information.

18. The method (600) according to any one of claims 15-17, wherein:

the outputted (607) information comprises representation of the received data is provided in visual form, enabling evaluation of the milking session in relation to a previously stored milking session.

19. The method (600) according to any one of claims 15-18, wherein:

the received (601) information comprises an identifier of the specific dairy animal

(100).