System and method for grooming-related farm decision support

A method of providing farm decision support relating to individual animals in a herd in a farm environment, comprising the steps of:

• associating each animal (A1, A2, A3) with a respective identification device (T1, T2;
• T3) for automatic remote identifying of each animal;
• operating a processing device (120);
• operating a brush station (B1) having i) a brush (210), ii) a detection unit (242) configured to detect a repositioning of the brush from a neutral position resulting from one of the animals (A3) pushing against the brush, iii) a reader unit (244) having a detection range and being configured to remotely register, within the detection range, identity data (ID1, ID2, ID3) of each animal visiting the brush station based on the identification device respectively associated with each animal, and iv) an output interface (246) operatively connected to the processing device;
• in response to the detection unit detecting the repositioning of the brush from the neutral position as a result of a first animal (A3) pushing against the brush, the reader unit registering, via a first one of the identification devices (T3) associated with the first animal, the identity data (ID3) of the first animal;
• forwarding, via the output interface, the registered identity data of the first animal to the processing device;
• and
• the processing device, based on the forwarded identity data of the first animal, registering data (d1) representing a visit of the first animal to the brush station (B1) within registered data representing visits of each animal to the brush station.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer code loadable into memory (M) of a computer that, when executed on the computer, controls the computer to perform a method of providing farm decision support relating to individual animals in a herd the animals in a farm environment, where each animal (A1, A2, A3) is associated with a respective identification device (T1, T2;

• T3) for automatic remote identifying of each animal, the method comprising the steps of:
• operating a brush station (B1) having i) a brush (210), ii) a detection unit (242) configured to detect a repositioning of the brush from a neutral position resulting from one of the animals (A3) of the head pushing against the brush, iii) reader unit (244) configured to remotely register identity data (ID1, ID2, ID3) of each animal visiting the brush station based on the identification device respectively associated with each animal, and iv) output interface (246) operatively connected to the computer;
• in response to the detection unit detecting the repositioning of the brush from the neutral position resulting from a first animal (A3) pushing against the brush, the reader unit registering, via a first one of the identification devices (T3) associated with the first animal, the identity data (ID3) of the first animal;
• forwarding, via the output interface, the registered identity data of the first animal to the computer;
• and
• the computer, based on the forwarded identity data of the first animal, registering data (d1) representing a visit of the first animal to the brush station (B1) within registered data representing visits of each animal to the brush station.

A system for providing farm decision support relating to individual animals in a herd in a farm environment, the system comprising:

• an identification device (T1, T2;
• T3) associated with each respective animal (A1, A2, A3) in the herd, each identification device respectively providing for automatic remote identifying of each associated animal;
• a brush station (B1) having i) a brush (210), ii) a detection unit (242) configured to detect a repositioning of the brush from a neutral position resulting from one of the animals (A3) pushing against the brush, iii) a reader unit (244) having a detection range and being configured to remotely register, within the detection range, identity data (ID1, ID2, ID3) of each animal visiting the brush station based on the identification device respectively associated with each animal, and iv) an output interface (246);
• and
• a processing device (120) that registers data representing visits of each animal to the brush station;
• wherein, in response to the detection unit detecting the repositioning of the brush from the neutral position resulting from a first animal (A3) pushing against the brush, i) the reader unit registers, via a first one of the identification devices (T3) associated with the first animal, the identity data (ID3) of the first animal, ii) via the output interface, the registered identity data of the first animal is forwarded to the processing device, and iii) the processing device, based on the forwarded identity data of the first animal, registers data (d1) representing a visit of the first animal to the brush station (B1) within the registered data representing the visits of each animal to the brush station.