Method and apparatus for feeding animals in a herd

An animal feeding apparatus for feeding and spraying animals in a herd comprising:

• a storage unit for holding feed for said herd of animals;
• feed delivery means for receiving feed from said storage unit and delivering a portion of feed to a feeding site accessible to each of said animals in the herd;
• an individual animal-identifying element adapted for attachment to each animal of the herd in order to generate a unique identifying signal for each animal respectively;
• an antenna located proximate said feeding site for receiving an identifying signal when the corresponding element-bearing animal is located proximate thereto;
• spray-delivery means for selectively applying a liquid spray to animals at the feeding site;
• and
• a controller including memory means for storing therein the feeding and spray regimen of animals in the herd for a respective predetermined time period, said controller being operatively connected to said feed delivery means, said antenna, and said spray-delivery means for selectively administering a dose of spray and for preventing overdosing of the identified animal with said liquid spray during said predetermined time period in response to said identifying signal, and for feeding a portion of a total periodic ration prescribed by said regimen for the identified animal in response to said identifying signal.

A method for feeding bison in a herd comprising the steps of:

• attaching one of a multiplicity of transponder tags to each bison in the herd to be fed at a feeding station, each of said tags adapted for providing a bison-identifying signal;
• providing a bison feeding station, said bison feeding station including a feed storage unit containing a quantity of feed, a feed dispenser for delivering feed to a feeding station which remains stationary during feeding of the herd, an antenna located proximate to the stationary feeding location for receiving bison identifying signals, and a controller having a memory storing an individualized periodic feeding ration particularized for each bison to be fed;
• permitting access to the bison feeding station by all bison in the herd;
• identifying each bison provided with one of the tags when the bison moves into a position proximate the antenna;
• and
• dispensing a portion of said individualized ration for a particular bison to the feeding station in response to identification of the bison.

Apparatus for applying a spray to range animals comprising:

• spray application system including a reservoir for holding liquid to be sprayed and at least one spray nozzle in fluidic communication with said reservoir for selectively spraying a quantity of said liquid to be sprayed to a spray site;
• a controller for identifying animals at the spray site operatively coupled to said spray application system for selectively actuating said feed spray application system to deliver said quantity of liquid to be sprayed corresponding to the identified animal;
• and
• an antenna operatively coupled to said controller for receiving a signal from an identifying element worn by the animal to be sprayed.