Method and apparatus for automatically milking animals

A method for automatically milking animals which comprises automatically placing teat cups on an animal's teats by means of a robot, milking each of the animal's udder quarters by said teat cups, measuring the milk flow from each of said udder quarters while it is being milked, testing the milk from each of said udder quarters while it is being milked for mastitis and automatically milking the relevant animal more times than average in a twenty-four hour period when mastitis has been detected in that animal.

A method of automatically milking animals which comprises automatically identifying each animal when it reports to an area having a milking robot for automatically milking said animals, determining among said animals those in which mastitis has been diagnosed, those which are to be inseminated, those having udders shaped so they cannot be automatically milked, and those whose hoofs must be clipped, and isolating said animals in an isolation area contiguous to the area wherein said animals would be otherwise automatically milked.

A method of automatically milking animals which comprises automatically placing teat cups on the animals' teats, milking said animals by said teat cups, testing milk flowing from the animals' udder quarters through said teat cups for mastitis and automatically applying anti-mastitis ointment to the teat of the relevant udder quarter when mastitis has been detected in said relevant udder quarter immediately after automatically milking the relevant animal and removing said teat cups from the relevant animal's teats.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals which comprises teat cups, a collector element, a separate line between each of said teat cups and said collector element, a mastitis sensor and milk flow sensor incorporated in at least one of said milk lines, means for neutralizing the vacuum in each of said teat cups, a computer that receives signals from said mastitis sensor and said milk flow sensor, said computer applying a control signal to said means for neutralizing the vacuum of each said teat cup, said control signal being applied selectively to a relevant teat cup when the milk flow in the relevant milk line has decreased to below a mastitis-dependent threshold value that is indicative that the relevant teat has been further stripped or when a predetermined time interval has elapsed after the milk flow has decreased to below a fixed or an udder quarter-dependent threshold value.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals which comprises a milking compartment which includes a milking robot and is arranged for automatic milking, an isolation area contiguous to said milking compartment, a gate between said milking compartment and said isolation area, teat cups, a collector element, a separate line between each of said teat cups and said collector element, a mastitis sensor and a milk flow sensor incorporated in at least one of said teat cups, means for neutralizing the vacuum of each said teat cup, a computer that receives signals from said mastitis sensor and said milk flow sensor, said computer including means for opening and closing said gate, said computer applying a control signal to said means for neutralizing the vacuum of each said teat cup, said control signal being applied selectively to a relevant teat cup when the milk flow in the relevant milk line has decreased to below a mastitis-dependent threshold value or when a predetermined time interval has elapsed after the milk flow has decreased to below a fixed or an udder quarter-independent threshold value.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals which comprises a milking compartment arranged for automatically milking said animals, said milking compartment comprising a milking robot and a milking machine, mastitis sensors included in said milking machine, an isolation area contiguous to said milking compartment, an animal passageway between said milking compartment and said isolation area, a gate in said passageway, a computer which is responsive to said mastitis sensors and which controls said gate whereupon when an animal in said milking compartment has been detected to have mastitis, said gate is caused to open by said computer and such animal exits from said milking compartment into said isolation area.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals comprising a milking compartment arranged for automatically milking said animals and including a milking robot, animal identification means at said milking compartment, milk quality detection means at said milking compartment, an isolation area contiguous to said milking compartment, a passageway from said milking compartment into said isolation area and a gate in said passageway controlled by a computer that identifies the animal in said milking compartment, said animal identification means transmitting data to said computer, said milk quality detection means transmitting data to said computer, said computer controlling said gate selectively to transfer animals from said milking compartment to said isolation area via said passageway based on data received by said computer from said milk quality detector and said animal identification means.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals which comprises a milking compartment arranged for automatically milking said animals and including a milking robot, animal identification means, a computer which receives data from said animal identification means and a passageway into said milking compartment having a gate which is controlled by said computer, said animal identification means identifying animals presenting themselves to said passageway for entry into said milking compartment and transmitting the identity of said animals to said computer, said computer being programmed to identify animals which cannot be milked in said milking compartment without manual assistance, said computer controlling said gate to prevent animals that cannot be milked without manual assistance from entering said milking compartment at preset times which are inconvenient for providing manual assistance to milk such animals.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals comprising a milking compartment arranged for milking said animals and including a milking robot, an animal identification means, an animal removal means for facilitating the removal of said animals from said milking compartment, control means for said animal removal means which is controlled by a computer, said animal identification means identifying animals which have entered said milking compartment that require manual assistance to be milked and transmitting information of said entry to said computer, said computer activating said animal removal means whereby animals, which have been identified as requiring manual assistance to be milked are removed from said milking compartment when they have entered said milking compartment at times, recorded in said computer, which are inconvenient to provide manual assistance for milking such animals.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals comprising teat cups, a milking robot for automatically connecting and disconnecting said teat cups to the animals being milked, a collector element, a separate line between each of said teat cups and said collector element, a mastitis sensor and a milk flow sensor incorporated in at least one of said milk lines, said milking robot including anti-mastitis ointment application means for apply anti-mastitis ointment to an udder quarter wherein said mastitis sensor has sensed mastitis, means for neutralizing the vacuum in each of said teat cups, a computer that receives signals from said mastitis sensor and said milk flow sensor, said computer applying a control signal to said means for neutralizing the vacuum of each said teat cup said control signal being applied selectively to a relevant teat cup when the milk flow in the relevant milk line has decreased to below a mastitis-dependent threshold value or when a predetermined time interval has elapsed after the milk flow has decreased to below a fixed or an udder quarter-dependent threshold value.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals comprising a milking machine which includes a milking robot for automatically connecting and disconnecting teat cups to the teats of an animal to be milked, mastitis sensors for sensing mastitis in an udder quarter of an animal being milked, said milking robot including anti-mastitis ointment application means which applies anti-mastitis ointment automatically to the relevant udder-quarter wherein said mastitis sensor has sensed the presence of mastitis.

An apparatus for automatically milking animals comprising a computer, a milking robot, a set of teat cups carried by said milking robot to be automatically connected and disconnected from the teats of the animal being milked, a milk line for carrying milk from each said teat cup, a collector element for collecting said milk separately from each said milk line, a mastitis detector and a milk flow detector in each said milk line connected to said computer, an animal identification means for identifying animals being automatically milked by the apparatus, a data file for each animal to be milked by the apparatus stored in said computer which is up-dated each time an animal identified by said animal identification means is automatically milked by the apparatus, a display screen associated with said computer in the vicinity of the apparatus for visibly depicting said data files.