| 摘要 |
Facility for lactating animals includes pens in a freestall barn and a milking parlor where animals from the pens are simultaneously milked while separated. The number of animals from different pens in milking stalls is changed by sliding a parlor barrier past entrances and exits of parlor stalls. Each pen includes bedding free stalls, an alley accessible by the animals as they enter and leave the free stalls, and a movable barrier traversing the accessible alley. The pen barrier assures that animals go to the milking parlor. Paths cause animals in a first pen, prior to milking, to return to the first pen after milking while preventing animals in other pens, prior to milking, from entering the first pen after milking. There are separate return alleys to each pen from separate parlor exits. The pen barrier prevents animals from occupying stalls it passes and refurbishes these stalls. |
| 主权项 |
1. A facility for handling lactating animals comprising a free stall barn having first and second pens, each including: (a) a set of bedding free stalls, and (b) an alley accessible by the animals as they enter and leave the free stalls; a milking parlor including plural milking stalls each including an entrance and an exit; and paths in the facility for the animals, the paths being arranged for (a) causing animals assigned to and located in the first pen, prior to milking, to return to the first pen after being milked, (b) causing animals assigned to and located in the second pen, prior to milking, to return to the second pen after being milked, and (c) enabling animals assigned to the first and second pens to be simultaneously milked in different milking stalls of the parlor; the paths including: (a) first and second entrances in the parlor for animals respectively assigned to the first and second pens, (b) first and second exits in the parlor for animals respectively assigned to the first and second pens, (c) a first return alley extending from the first exit in the parlor to a portion of the accessible alley of the first pen; the first return alley and a barrier arrangement of the milking parlor being arranged so that the animals assigned to the second pen cannot enter the first return alley, (d) a second return alley extending from the second exit in the parlor to a portion of the accessible alley of the second pen; the second return alley and the barrier arrangement of the milking parlor being arranged so that the animals assigned to the first pen cannot enter the second return alley; the barrier arrangement of the parlor being arranged for causing (i) animals entering the parlor via the first parlor entrance to be guided only to the entrances of milking stalls having exits that are accessible to the first return alley, and (ii) animals entering the parlor via the second parlor entrance to be guided only to the entrances of milking stalls having exits that are accessible to the second return alley; the barrier arrangement of the parlor including a movable segment; the movable segment of the parlor barrier arrangement including a slidable obstruction arrangement that is slidable past the entrances and exits of the milking stalls so that during different times the slidable obstruction arrangement position can cause the animals from the first and second pens to enter and leave differing numbers of the milking stalls. |
