85 results about "Animal management" patented technology

A highly automated non-confining system to continuously, or at selected time intervals identify, measure, monitor and manage the consumption behavior, substance intake, body weight and growth of individual animals in their usual production environment including range, pasture, feedlot, dairy and farm without disruption to typical behaviors in order to determine, analyze, model and predict a variety of conditions relating to animal health, productivity, efficiency and quality. A transmitter generally attached to the animal identifies the individual animal by a unique individual code. A weighing device measures animal weight while an animal is consuming substances. An antenna receives the unique signal from the transmitter and a transmitting and receiving device sends acquired signals to a computer and receives instructions from a computer. A computer acquires signals and modification factors incorporated in the computer generate an event or interval measurement of an animal's weight and gain, growth rate and substance consumption, and the animal behavior affecting the measurement. A visual identification mechanism marks cattle that the computer system has determined require intervention. The system models and predicts animal health and growth, performance, carcass characteristics, feed utilization, manure and methane output.

The present invention relates to a system for the intensive management of animals, the system comprising: animal identification means for identifying individual animals; at least one device for measuring one or more parameters of individual animals; a processor for processing measurements obtained for the one or more parameters, wherein the processed parameter data is used to determine management strategies for individual animals in real-time; and means for implementing management strategies for the animals.

A highly automated non-confining system to continuously, or at selected time intervals identify, measure, monitor and manage the consumption behavior, substance intake, body weight and growth of individual animals in their usual production environment including range, pasture, feedlot, dairy and farm without disruption to typical behaviors in order to determine, analyze, model and predict a variety of conditions relating to animal health, productivity, efficiency and quality. A transmitter generally attached to the animal identifies the individual animal by a unique individual code. A weighing device measures animal weight while an animal is consuming substances. An antenna receives the unique signal from the transmitter and a transmitting and receiving device sends acquired signals to a computer and receives instructions from a computer. A computer acquires signals and modification factors incorporated in the computer generate an event or interval measurement of an animal's weight and gain, growth rate and substance consumption, and the animal behavior affecting the measurement. A visual identification mechanism marks cattle that the computer system has determined require intervention. The system models and predicts animal health and growth, performance, carcass characteristics, feed utilization, manure and methane output.

Devices, systems and methods for animal training, animal feeding, animal management, animal fitness, monitoring and managing animal food intake, remote animal engagement, behavioral training and animal entertainment are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention provide devices, systems and methods for measuring a dog's energy expenditures and / or movements, and providing signals to the dog to engage in activities or games to earn food. In one aspect, one or more of the dog's activity level, age, weight, body mass, and / or other health information is utilized to determine an appropriate food intake level for the dog. By measuring the dog's activity, the amount of calories the dog needs and / or has utilized may be determined. By encouraging activity by the dog, the dog's health may improve, even if the dog's weight remains unchanged. Among other embodiments disclosed herein, various mechanisms capable of moderating animal noise and / or behavior are disclosed.

A system for and method of managing a group of animals include a control system, a camera operatively connected to it for forming a depth-image of at least one animal, and an animal management or actuator mechanism operatively connected to the control system. The control system compares information regarding the depth-image formed by the camera with reference information regarding the animal, generates control information on this basis, and sends the control information to the animal management or actuator mechanism. The camera includes an emitting source of electromagnetic radiation, a matrix with a plurality of rows and columns of receivers for receiving radiation reflected from the animal, a lens for displaying the reflected radiation on the receivers, and a sensor controller operatively connected to the source of radiation in order to modulate the radiation and determine for each of the receivers a phase difference between the emitted and the reflected radiation.

The invention relates to a self-interference canceling circuit comprising a detection module, an adjustment module, a feedback module and a combiner. By the adoption of the structure, the read-write capacity of electronic tags is enhanced, the number of identified tags is increased, the receiving flexibility of the system is improved, the amplitude of reflected signals of the tags is increased, and therefore a series of disadvantages caused by the self-interference problem in a passive RFID system are solved. The self-interference canceling circuit can be applied to various fields such as warehouse management in logistic storage, identity recognition, traffic and transportation, food, medical treatment, animal management, entrance guard burglary prevention and military industry.

A method is provided for managing animals (10) in a milking system which comprises a milking stall (11) provided with a milking apparatus (13) for milking the animals, a gate arrangement (18a-b; 18a-b, 32; 55a-b) allowing the animals to enter said milking stall, one at a time, from at least two different locations, and a control device (15) which holds and updates a milking suitability index for each of the animals. According to the method a first animal is identified and received at a first location, and a milking suitability index for the first animal is retrieved. A second animal is identified and received at a second location, and a milking suitability index for the second animal is retrieved. The milking suitability indexes for the first and second animals are compared and an animal at either one of said first and second locations is allowed to enter the milking stall depending on the outcome of the comparison.

A system and computerized method for monitoring and analyzing animal related data. In one embodiment, the system includes a processor and memory operable to identify a parameter related to animal management for species in a biological environment, aggregate animal related data from different sources about the parameter of the species, identify a baseline for the parameter, correlate the animal related data against the baseline to obtain correlated data, and analyze said correlated data to assess said animal management.

A system and computerized method for monitoring and analyzing animal related data. In one embodiment, the system includes a processor and memory operable to identify a parameter related to animal management for species in a biological environment, aggregate animal related data from different sources about the parameter of the species, identify a baseline for the parameter, correlate the animal related data against the baseline to obtain correlated data, and analyze said correlated data to assess said animal management.

The invention relates to an animal management method and an animal management system for achieving the same. The system comprises a main control terminal and a plurality of controlled terminals. Each animal body wears a controlled terminal, the controlled terminal monitors data of the corresponding animal such as the position, the heart rate, the body surface temperature, the feeding condition and the exercise quantity and transmit the data to the main control terminal, so that workers can timely find the animals with abnormal bodies and the lost animals and facilitate the follow-up work.

An animal management system provides an alley to control the handling of animals when procedures are to be performed on the animals by veterinarians or cattle producers. The alley is formed by a base frame, and included therewith are a headgate and preferably two wedge-shaped access doors rotatably mounted with the base frame. The headgate is movable between an entrapping position to a releasing position for an animal, and coordinated movement of the at least one access door ensures that a lead animal is properly positioned while other down line animals do not interfere with care given to, or procedures performed on, the lead animal in the headgate. Each access door allows convenient access for persons to the lead animal, and the selective use of one of two doors at a time facilitates the access to and movement of animals of different sizes in the alley. The system may also include an articulating hitch assembly for coupling the alley with a towing vehicle and decoupling the alley so that the hitch assembly substantially does not block the exit of the alley.

The invention discloses an animal management system based on iris identification. The animal management system comprises an iris acquisition hand-held machine and a cloud server which perform real-time connection and data exchange in a wireless communication manner. The iris acquisition hand-held machine acquires animal iris image information, an iris identification hand-held machine sends the acquired iris image information to the cloud server, the cloud server matches the acquired iris image information with stored iris image information of the cloud server, and the cloud server sends a matching result to the iris identification hand-held machine. The invention further discloses the iris identification hand-held machine. Animals are individually marked by utilizing uniqueness of irises, the animal iris image information can be acquired, animal identity information is registered, animal identities are identified, and the animal iris image information and the animal identity information are stored through the cloud server, so the later information query, modification and updating are convenient, animal information registration and identification can be completed without capturing the animals and be nondestructive and noninvasive, operation is simple, and the workload is less.

A method and apparatus for coupling an animal managing device to an animal, coupling an electronic receiver to an electronic device, wherein the animal managing device adapted to be in electronic communication with the electronic receiver, receiving an electronic signal by the electronic receiver from the animal managing device are disclosed. Electronically coupling a sound emitting device to the electronic receiver, and activating the sound emitting device by means of the electronic receiver to emit at least one of an audible sound and a first ultrasonic frequency signal when the animal managing device reaches a first displacement from the electronic device are also disclosed. Other embodiments of the invention are also described.

An animal management system provides an alley to control the handling of animals when procedures are to be performed on the animals by veterinarians or cattle producers. The alley is formed by a base frame, and included therewith are a headgate and preferably two wedge-shaped access doors rotatably mounted with the base frame. The headgate is movable between an entrapping position to a releasing position for an animal, and coordinated movement of the at least one access door ensures that a lead animal is properly positioned while other down line animals do not interfere with care given to, or procedures performed on, the lead animal in the headgate. Each access door allows convenient access for persons to the lead animal, and the selective use of one of two doors at a time facilitates the access to and movement of animals of different sizes in the alley. The system may also include an articulating hitch assembly for coupling the alley with a towing vehicle and decoupling the alley so that the hitch assembly substantially does not block the exit of the alley.

Embodiments disclosed herein include devices for time release of measured quantities of an active ingredient and storage of animal management information. One embodiment disclosed herein releases an active ingredient, which is useful in the ruminant art, within the rumen and, then, at optionally varied intervals, releases additional doses into the same environment. The active ingredients are compartmentalized and, upon receiving an appropriate signal, use a magnetic field to expel the active ingredient into the rumen of the animal. The doses of active ingredient may be delivered simultaneously, sequentially, or independently. Further, the doses of active ingredient may be the same active ingredient or different active ingredients, in any formulation. Another embodiment described herein stores animal management information, such as identification or dosage information, and wirelessly communicates the stored information to an external device.

A method for animal management is provided in a milking system comprising a milking box (13), a milking apparatus (13d) for milking animals (10), an enclosed waiting area (14) from which the animals are capable of entering the milking box, and a gate arrangement (14a), through which each of the animals is allowed to pass to enter the waiting area if the animal, after having been identified, fulfills a criterion. The method comprises the steps of measuring (21) a time an animal waits in the waiting area before being milked; determining (22) a rank number for the animal based on the time, the rank number being a measure of the hierarchic order of the animal among the animals milked in the milking system; and performing (23) an action with regard to the milking system depending on the determined rank number.

Specifically, a computer implemented animal management program having modules which function to match animal information retrieved from a radiofrequency identification device(s) implanted in an animal(s) with animal information retrieved from a database of at least one computer to assess animal condition and time treatment events.

The invention relates to a high-receiving-sensitivity passive RFID system with optical link connection. By the adoption of an optical link structure, the high-receiving-sensitivity passive RFID system has the advantages of being easily applied to wiring in different environments, being very low in optical link loss under a long-distance transmission circumstance, being suitable for transmission of large volumes of data and the like, and therefore the distribution range of an antenna is enlarged, the receiving sensitivity of the system is improved, and the system is suitable for application scenarios when a large number of electronic tags are identified. The problems that according to an existing passive RFID system, the range of tag identification is small, and identification accuracy is low are solved. The high-receiving-sensitivity passive RFID system can be widely applied to the fields of warehouse management in logistics storage, identity recognition, transportation, food, medical treatment, animal management, entrance guard against theft, industry, military and the like.

The invention relates to an animal management system and a scan reading device. The scan reading device is used for reading RFID labels placed on animal bodies and sends the read RFID labels after being processed to the animal management system to be compared through a communication transmission system, and the scan reading device comprises a first reading module, an interface, an input module, an information operation module and a message sending and receiving module, wherein the first reading module is used for reading the RFID labels placed on the animal bodies; the interface is used for inserting the first reading module to receive the RFID labels read by the first reading module; the input module is used for receiving operation messages; the information operation module is used for processing the RFID labels received by the interface and / or the operation messages received by the input module; the message sending and receiving module is used for sending the information processed by the information operation module throught the communication transmission system and / or receiving the information sent by the communication transmission system.

Specifically, a computer implemented animal management program having modules which function to match animal information retrieved from a radiofrequency identification device(s) implanted in an animal(s) with animal information retrieved from a database of at least one computer to assess animal condition and time treatment events.

A method for animal management is provided in a milking system including a a milking box, a milking apparatus for milking animals, an enclosed waiting area from which the animals are capable of entering the milking box, and a gate arrangement, in which each of the animals is allowed to enter and pass the waiting area if the animal, after having been identified, fulfills a criterion. The method includes measuring a time an animal waits in the waiting area before being milked; determining a ranking for the animal based on the time, the ranking being a measure of a hierarchic order of the animal among the animals milked in the milking system; and performing an action with regard to the milking system depending on the determined ranking.

An animal management system and scanning access device are disclosed. The scanning access device accesses RFID label disposed on / in animal body, and the information of the accessed RFID label is subsequently processed and transmitted to the animal management system via a communication transmission module for comparison. The scanning access device includes a first access module for accessing the RFID label disposed on / in animal body, an interface for the first access module to be coupled thereto and receiving the information of the RFID label accessed by the first access module, an input module for receiving operation message, a processing module for processing the information of the RFID label received by the interface and / or the operation message received by the input module, and a transmitting / receiving module for transmitting the processed information obtained from the processing module via the communication transmission module and / or receiving another information transmitted by the communication transmission module.

The invention provides a pig farm intelligent management system, and belongs to the field of an animal management system. The pig farm intelligent management system consists of an environment monitoring end, a remote feeding control end, a security protection end, a management end and a user terminal, wherein the environment monitoring end comprises a sensor module, an execution module, an environment monitoring end wireless module and an environment monitoring end controller module; the security protection end comprises an infrared ray sensing module, a security protection end controller module and a security protection end wireless module; and the management end comprises a PC (Personal Computer) management module, a management end controller module, a warning module, a server module and a management end wireless module. The environment monitoring end is used for collecting environment parameters of a pig farm in real time, so that a user can well master the environment condition in the pig farm; the remote feeding control end is used for solving the remote feeding problem; and the security protection end is used for improving the security of the pig farm, so that the labor force is reduced, and the problem that a large number of manpower resources are wasted in the existing pig farm is solved.

A method for management of animals in an area (11) including a plurality of grazing paddocks (12a-f), in which the animals graze, and a milking area (13), in which the animals are milked, wherein the milking area is accessible from each of the grazing paddocks and each of the grazing paddocks is accessible from the milking area via a sorting gate arrangement (17a, 17c). According to the method, each of a plurality of animals which have grazed in the grazing paddocks is identified (21) and milked (22) in the milking area. A nutritional need and / or a milk production capacity of each of the animals which have been identified and milked is / are established (23). Finally, each of the animals is automatically guided (24) by the sorting gate arrangement, subsequent to the milking of the animal, to enter a selected one of the grazing paddocks depending on the nutritional need and / or the milk production capacity of the animal.

A system for controlling and monitoring animals, including control devices (10) that are fittable to the animals and arranged for communication with one another. Each control device (10) includes means for determining the position of an animal relative to a second animal, means for determining the distance between the two animals, and means for determining movement of the animals relative to one another. The system also includes stimulus application devices (12) arranged for selective application of a stimulus to an animal based on the relative position, distance and / or movement of the animals.

There is provided an animal training system to train an animal to detect a training odour. The animal training system comprises a target (310) comprising the training odour (320) and a hidden marker (330); and a detector (350) for identifying the hidden marker. There is further provided an animal training method using the animal training system, the animal training method for practice by a supervisor, an animal handler, and an animal. The animal training method comprises placing the target (310) in a location of a search area (300), the target comprising the training odour (320) and the hidden marker (330), the placing being carried out by the supervisor; introducing the animal handler and the animal (305) to the search area; scanning with the detector (350) a candid ate location for the hidden marker, the candidate location being a location that is indicated by the animal; and rewarding the animal if the detector indicates the presence of the hidden marker at the candidate location.

A method is provided for managing animals (10) in a milking system which comprises a milking stall (11) provided with a milking apparatus (13) for milking the animals, a gate arrangement (18a-b; 18a-b, 32; 55a-b) allowing the animals to enter said milking stall, one at a time, from at least two different locations, and a control device (15) which holds and updates a milking suitability index for each of the animals. According to the method a first animal is identified and received at a first location, and a milking suitability index for the first animal is retrieved. A second animal is identified and received at a second location, and a milking suitability index for the second animal is retrieved. The milking suitability indexes for the first and second animals are compared and an animal at either one of said first and second locations is allowed to enter the milking stall depending on the outcome of the comparison.

Devices, systems and methods for animal training, animal feeding, animal management, animal fitness, monitoring and managing animal food intake, remote animal engagement, behavioral training and animal entertainment are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention provide devices, systems and methods for measuring a dog's energy expenditures and / or movements, and providing signals to the dog to engage in activities or games to earn food. In one aspect, one or more of the dog's activity level, age, weight, body mass, and / or other health information is utilized to determine an appropriate food intake level for the dog. By measuring the dog's activity, the amount of calories the dog needs and / or has utilized may be determined. By encouraging activity by the dog, the dog's health may improve, even if the dog's weight remains unchanged. Among other embodiments disclosed herein, various mechanisms capable of moderating animal noise and / or behavior are disclosed.