Livestock handling divice

A gate assembly for a pen for receiving and confining an animal, comprising:

• a pair of upright generally planar door members rotatably mounted to said pen so that each door member is rotatable about its respective upright rotation axis spaced from the general plane of the door member;
• and
• a linear actuator mounted to said pen so as to be in operative connection with said pair of door members;
• wherein
• actuation of said linear actuator in a first direction causes said pair of door members to rotate about their respective spaced rotation axes such that they extend transversely relative to a direction of travel of the animal so as to close an opening of said pen, and actuation of said linear actuator in a second reverse direction causes said pair of door members to simultaneously retract upon rotation about their respective spaced rotation axes such that their general planes translate to locations substantially parallel to the direction of travel of the animal and at opposite sides of the path of travel of the animal so as to open an opening of said pen.

A method of processing a live animal travelling along a confined path by receiving and confining the animal, the method comprising:

• providing a pen having two elongate walls spaced apart to define a space into which the animal is received a gate assembly located at an end of the pen and movable between a closed position which the animal initially faces and an open position which permits said animal to pass thereby and said gate assembly including a pair of upright generally planar door members, each door member having an inner edge where the two door members most closely approach each other when the gate assembly is in its closed position, and each door member having an elongated roller member extending along substantially the entire height of the respective inner edge of the door member and being mounted for rotation about an upright rotation axis, and each door member being rotatably mounted to said pen about an upright rotation axis spaced from the general plane of the door member such that when the gate assembly is in its closed position each door member has its general plane extending transversely across the end of the pen, and when the gate assembly is moved from its closed position to the open position each door member simultaneously retracts and rotates as it moves about its rotation axis such that its general plane translates to a location adjacent a respective elongate wall of the pen;
• processing the animal by causing the animal to move along the confined path until it reaches the gate assembly which is initially in its closed position so that the animal faces the planar door members;
• operating the gate assembly so that the planar door members simultaneously commence to move and each door member retracts and rotates as it moves about its rotation axis and its general plane translates towards a location adjacent a respective one of the elongate walls of the pen;
• allowing the animal to advance if it wants to do so, along the travel path as the gate assembly is in the process of moving from its closed position to its open position so that the animal, when passing between the door members before they reach the open position, upon contacting the inner edge of either of the door members will contact and move past the respective roller member so that there will be a rolling contact between the door member inner edges and the animal;
• and
• operating the gate assembly when the animal has substantially passed the door members so as to move the door members from their open position to the closed position and thereby provide a barrier gate facing an animal following behind the animal now in a position past the closed gate assembly.