SEPARATING PIGS OF A REQUIRED MARKET WEIGHT

摘要

A system for separating pigs which achieve market weight from a group of pigs comprises a pen which is located at the regular drinking water trough for the pigs within the raising pen. The pen is arranged so that when the animals are approaching market weight they must enter the pen for drinking and the pen includes a floor plate with a load cell for detecting the weight of the animal. The pen is dimensioned so that only a single animal at a time can enter the pen and is then weighed. The pen includes a first gate which is normally closed and a second gate which is normally open so that the animal backs out when finished drinking. When the animal achieves a weight greater than the required market weight, this is detected by the load cell and the gates are moved to open the first gate and close the second gate to allow the animal to pass through into a holding pen.