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US 12,295,344 B2Granted
Milking arrangement for animal health condition indication
AssigneeDeLaval Holding AB
InventorsJohn M Christensen, Claus Dallerup Rasmussen, Mikael Højer Hansen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A milking arrangement comprising a milking machine for milking an animal, wherein the milking arrangement comprises a control unit that is configured to obtain identity of the animal in connection with milking of the animal, obtain a reference point in time of a lactation cycle of the identified animal, determine to take at least one milk sample of the animal, when a predetermined time period has passed from the reference point in time; obtain a Haptoglobin level from the milk sample, compare the obtained Haptoglobin level with a Haptoglobin reference limit, and indicate health condition of the animal, based on the made comparison.
Claims33
A milking arrangement, comprising:
- a milking machine for milking an animal;
- and
- a control unit, configured to:
- obtain an identity of the animal in connection with milking of the animal;
- obtain a reference point in time of a lactation cycle of the identified animal;
- when a predetermined time period has passed from the reference point in time of a lactation cycle of the identified animal, take a milk sample of the animal;
- obtain a Haptoglobin level from the milk sample;
- carry out a comparison of the obtained Haptoglobin level with a Haptoglobin reference limit;
- and
- indicate a health condition of the animal, based on the comparison of the obtained Haptoglobin level with the Haptoglobin reference limit,
- wherein the control unit is further configured to:
- take a further milk sample of the animal;
- select a supplementary biomarker, distinct from Haptoglobin;
- obtain a supplementary biomarker level from the further milk sample of the animal, of the selected supplementary biomarker;
- and
- carry out a comparison of the obtained supplementary biomarker level with a supplementary biomarker reference limit,
- wherein the health condition of the animal is indicated based on both the comparison of the supplementary biomarker level with the supplementary biomarker reference limit and the comparison of the obtained Haptoglobin level with the Haptoglobin reference limit, and
- wherein the control unit is further configured to, when the obtained Haptoglobin level exceeds the Haptoglobin reference limit:
- obtain the supplementary biomarker level of the supplementary biomarker that is distinct from Haptoglobin;
- and
- carry out a comparison of the obtained supplementary biomarker level with the supplementary biomarker reference limit,
- wherein the health condition of the animal is indicated based on both the comparison of the supplementary biomarker level with the supplementary biomarker reference limit and the comparison of the obtained Haptoglobin level with the Haptoglobin reference limit.
19 more elements
A milking arrangement, comprising:
- a milking machine for milking an animal;
- and
- a control unit, configured to:
- obtain an identity of the animal in connection with milking of the animal;
- obtain a reference point in time of a lactation cycle of the identified animal;
- when a predetermined time period has passed from the reference point in time of a lactation cycle of the identified animal, take a milk sample of the animal;
- obtain a Haptoglobin level from the milk sample;
- carry out a comparison of the obtained Haptoglobin level with a Haptoglobin reference limit;
- and
- indicate a health condition of the animal, based on the comparison of the obtained Haptoglobin level with the Haptoglobin reference limit,
- wherein the control unit is configured to take the milk sample from the animal repeatedly as iterative milk samples, and store a Haptoglobin level of each one of the iterative milk samples in a memory of the milking arrangement together with an associated time reference, said control unit further configured to determine a difference between the Haptoglobin level stored in the memory and a previously stored Haptoglobin level,
- wherein the health condition is indicated based on the determined difference, and
- wherein the control unit is further configured to, when a difference between the Haptoglobin level stored in the memory and the previously stored Haptoglobin level exceeds a threshold limit:
- obtain a supplementary biomarker level of a supplementary biomarker that is distinct from Haptoglobin;
- and
- carry out a comparison of the obtained supplementary biomarker level with a supplementary biomarker reference limit,
- wherein the health condition of the animal is indicated based on both the comparison of the supplementary biomarker level with the supplementary biomarker reference limit and the comparison of the obtained Haptoglobin level with the Haptoglobin reference limit.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.