METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR FEEDING AND MILKING OF ANIMALS IN A FARM PRODUCTION BUILDING EQUIPPED WITH A MILKING ROBOT

The present invention relates to a method as defined in the preamble of claim 1, and to an arrangement as defined in the preamble of claim 5, for feeding .and milking of animals in a farm production building equipped with a milking robot.

This invention relates particularly to the arrangement of the structures and fixtures of production buildings such as cow houses and loose housings for dairy cattle, and to a method for managing the animals in the production building so that feeding and milking are flexible and easy from the animals' point of view, as well as advantageous for produc- tion. Usually cows lie down in their stalls most of the time. The lying time is approx. 16-18 hours per day. A cow usually goes to eat or drink only when it is hungry or thirsty. This usually happens 6-8 times per day.

Correspondingly a milk cow visits the milking robot for milking 2-3 times a day.

The structure of production buildings intended for cattle, as well as the arrangement of fixtures and fittings within the buildings must be such that the cattle are easy to feed and care for, and that milking is efficient. Therefore, particularly as larger cow house units become more common and the number of cows per unit increases, the heaviest tasks in the cow house, such as milking and feeding, should be automated where possible. Solutions developed for milking in- elude milking robots, with which cows practically milk themselves by visiting the robot each in turn. Milking turns are usually organised according to the cows' own mutual hierarchy. With an arrangement using milking robots, there are special requirements to ensure that cows thrive, stay suffi- ciently clean, dare to move as freely as possible and use the milking robots efficiently.

CONFIRMATION COP^

Production buildings according to the prior art, with traditional constructions and functions, are for example as shown in Figure 1 essentially rectangular, elongated buildings with a number of adjacent rows of sleeping stalls 100-103, separated from each other by passages 200-202 placed lengthwise along the building. The sleeping stalls 100-103 are located for example at one end of the elongated production building, while at the other end of the building there is a milking robot 500, to which dairy cattle are directed to walk independently for milking, along the first passage 200.

The first lengthwise row of sleeping stalls 100 of the production building is placed for example along one wall of the building. Immediately in front of the open ends of the sleeping stalls of the sleeping stall row 100 there is the first passage 200, placed parallel to the row of sleeping stalls 100, after which, moving towards the centre of the production building there is for example a second row of sleeping stalls 101, whose sleeping stalls open towards the first passage 200. Moving ahead in the same direction, on the other side of the second row of sleeping stalls 101 there is a third row of sleeping stalls 102, parallel to the abovementioned rows of sleeping stalls 100, 101, whose sleeping stalls open in the same direction as the sleeping stalls in the first row of sleeping stalls 100 onto a second passage 201 placed in front of the third row of sleeping stalls 102, which second passage 201 is parallel with the first passage 200.

Connections from the first passage 200 to the second passage 201, which connections are essentially perpendicular to the long side of the production building, are formed with transverse passages 300 placed at regular intervals and essentially perpendicularly to the passages 200, 201, which pas- sages 300 thus connect the passages 200 and 201 together. In connection with the second passage 201 there is a feeding table 400, placed essentially parallel with the passage,

where equipment, that can be for example similar to a belt conveyor, brings feed to the animals in the production building. Along the opposite wall of the production building there can be at least one other row of sleeping stalls 103, for example for young cattle. These sleeping stalls may not necessarily be connected to the milking robot 500.

The problem with these production buildings according to the prior art is that the animals' feeding and milking traffic is not arranged properly from the animals' point of view. In the abovementioned elongated building, the cows must walk from their sleeping stalls 100-102 perpendicularly to the building's long side and the passages 200-202 in order to feed and drink at the feeding equipment 400. Most cows go at the same time through the transverse passages 300. These feeding related paths are shown in Figure 1 with arrows Ia. In an elongated building the feeding area may be very far, up to several dozen metres, from the milking robot 500, which means that when going for feeding the cows might not have any visual or aural contact with the milking robot 500. That means that the milking robot does not stimulate the cows in any way to go for milking at the same time.

Cows will usually go for milking at the latest when their udders are filled with milk. Then they will go along one of the lengthwise passages 200-202 to the milking robot 500 placed at the other end of the unit, which means that the milking traffic is mainly lengthwise along the building, thus being perpendicular to the feeding traffic. The milking traffic related paths are shown in Figure 1 with arrows Ib. The mutually crosswise milking traffic Ib and feeding traffic Ia cause traffic jams and may prevent timid animals from reaching the milking robot 500 if their paths are blocked by large and frightening cows.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the abovementioned drawbacks and to achieve a practical, effi-

cient and advantageous method and arrangement for farm production buildings that allows the cattle the ability to move freely and to milk themselves at their own pace using milking robots or a similar equipments. The method according to the invention is characterized by what is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 1. Correspondingly, the arrangement according to the invention is characterized by what is disclosed in the characterization part of claim 5. Other embodiments of the invention are characterized by what is disclosed in the other claims.

Hereinafter/Below, the method and arrangement according to the invention will be known collectively as the solution according to the invention. The solution of the invention has the advantage that the production building of the solution is advantageous and easy to build, furnish and equip with its functions such that the animals have possibility to flexible and free movement. An additional advantage is that the production building fulfilling the solution accord- ing to the invention is particularly suitable for use as a loose housing and is easy to equip with milking robots that the cows can easily visit independently, at their own pace. In addition none of the cows has too long a way to the milking robots and even the most timid animals dare to go there at their own pace because the milking and feeding traffics do not obstruct each other and on the way there are no frightening places that cannot easily be gone around . Feeding of the animals is also easy to automate. A common advantage to all of these functions is that the distances to various facilities and equipment are relatively short. An additional advantage is the versatility of the solution. Thus the space can be divided with barriers and various kinds of gates into sectors, which provides for (an) easy and advantageous implementation of diverse functions such as heifer training. The animals can be divided into different groups and the groups can easily be directed to different places, such as for instance out to a pasture, when neces-

sary from different sides of the building, which makes it easy to vary the pastures. An additional advantage is the easy expandability. With a suitable choice of fixtures, an expansion can be made mainly within a single production building, or a larger extension can be made by constructing a new, essentially round production building next to the earlier building, which new building • shares facilities of the earlier building.

In the following, the invention will be described in more detail by the aid of an embodiment example with reference to the attached drawings, wherein

Figure 1 presents a farm production building according to prior art, viewed from above and simplified, and

Figure 2 presents a farm production building according to the invention, viewed from above and simplified.

The production building according to prior art shown in Fig- ure 1 was described above. Figure 2 presents a farm production building according to the invention, such as a cow house or a loose housing intended for cattle, viewed from above and in simplified and diagrammatic form, with the roof removed. The building's roof structures are supported by supporting pillars 2 placed concentrically and essentially at regular intervals in a circular ring, which makes the building itself essentially circular, excepting the short straight sections of the outer walls between the supporting pillars. The roof beams are essentially placed at equal an- gles between each other, and they radiate from the centre of the building to end on top of the abovementioned supporting pillars 2. The beams can be placed for example at regular angles of 18°, which gives a total of 20 beams and 20 supporting pillars 2 for the building. Immediately inside the outer wall there is the first, i.e. the outermost area of adjacent sleeping stalls 3a placed concentrically in a ring, the area named more briefly as the sleeping stall ring 3a,

which has an essentially fixed stall section. The next concentric ring inwards consists of the first i.e. the outermost circular passage 4, which forms a grate-like base. Inside this passage there is the inner, in this structure so- lution, the second area of adjacent sleeping stalls 3b placed concentrically in a ring, the area named more briefly as the sleeping stall ring 3b, which also has an essentially fixed stall section. Further, on the ring inside these sleeping stalls 3b, there is an inner, i.e. a second circu- lar passage 5, which forms a grate-like base, inside which, when moving towards the building's centre, there is an essentially circular feeding equipment 8 comprising feeding and drinking equipment . The feeding equipment 8 contains water stations for the animals to drink from, and a feeding trolley which moves on rails and is fitted to move circularly, for instance concentrically with the sleeping stall rings 3a-3c. The feeding equipment 8 is refilled for example by a filling conveyor 12, which portions out the feed at a suitable location into the feeding trolley of the feeding equipment 8.

On the inside of the second circular passage 5 there is the innermost, in this structure solution, the third area of adjacent sleeping stalls 3c placed concentrically in a ring, the area named more briefly as the sleeping stall ring 3c, which also has an essentially fixed stall section. Further, on the ring inside the sleeping stall ring 3c, there is the innermost, i.e. the third circular passage 6 forming a grate-like base, within which, when moving ahead towards the building's centre, there is, when seen from above, an essentially round space 7, in the centre of the building, concentric with the abovementioned sleeping stall rings, passages and other circular sections, at the bottom of which space there is for ■ example a sludge container used as a col- lecting tank, and further up, placed suitably higher than the loose housing's floor structure, there is an office or

similar facility. Above the office there is advantageously also other usage and storage space.

Between the sleeping stall areas 3a-3c and the circular pas- sages 4-6 there are connecting passages 13, 14 placed essentially radially in relation to the building, which connecting passages 13, 14 are placed suitably to cut the sleeping stall rings 3a-3c. The positioning of the connecting passages 13 is also chosen carefully in terms of the feeding and milking traffic in order to minimise traffic jams, reduce crosswise traffic and make it so that an easy roundabout way is always found to the desired destination if a route is blocked for some reason.

If necessary, the inside of the production building is sectioned by one or more barriers 15 into suitably sized sectors or areas of a different shape 17-19, which contain for example sleeping stalls and other necessary equipment and functions for different groups of animals. In the building according to Figure 2, the milking cows are placed in a sector 17 defined by the filling conveyor 12 and, moving along clockwise from it, the first partition 15. Similarly, sector 18 defined by the partitions 15 contains for example dried- up cattle, while the other half of the building, i.e. sector 19 located at the top of Figure 2, contains for example young cattle that are not yet ready for milking. With these different sectors, animals can be directed to exit the building at different locations.

Below the circular passages 4, 5 and 6 there are essentially circular manure conduits, from the base of which collection channels lead to the sludge container located at the centre of the building. From this sludge container the sludge is led further for storage and treatment according to any prior art.

One or more milking robots 11 are placed in a location chosen carefully to optimise the fluency of the animals' feeding and milking traffic, essentially within the milking area placed at the centre part of the production building, so that the milking robot 11 is placed essentially inside the area formed by at least the two outer sleeping stall areas placed concentrically along a circular ring, i.e. inside the the first circular sleeping stall area 3a and the second circular sleeping stall area 3b. Advantageously, the milking robot 11 is placed for example, in the direction of the building's radius, between the second and third circular pas.sages 5 and 6, to cut (off) the inner sleeping stall area 3c with its circularly and concentrically placed sleeping stalls. Thus the area of inner sleeping stalls 3c does not form a wholly enclosed circle, but the milking area contains at the same a passage in front of the milking robot 11, through which the animals can return from the milking robot to their sleeping stall- areas. Advantageously, the milking area 11 is placed on the side of the main entrance 16 to the animal shelter, from where there is a direct link to an outbuilding 9 comprising other maintenance and care facilities. The outbuilding 9 contains at least a milk tank 10, to which the milk obtained from the cattle is arranged to be fed from the milking robots 11 along pipes. In addition the outbuild- ing has facilities 20 for example for sick animals, which animals also have access from the space 20 to the milking robot 11.

In the solution according to the invention, the milking cow sector 17 has three rows of sleeping stall rings 3a-3c placed within each other. Most of the sleeping stalls are sleeping stalls 3a placed on the outermost ring, which means that most cows lie in the outermost sleeping stall area 3a.

Whenever a cow wants to eat or drink, it goes from its sleeping stall towards the inner rings and circular passages

4, 5 and 6, without obstructions, because the sleeping stall area 3a in the milking cow sector 17 is connected with the

building' s centre at least by several radial connecting passages 13, 14. In addition to the connecting passages 13 placed at the same ends of the inner sleeping stall rings 3b and 3c as the milking robot 11, there is at least one con- necting passage 14 at the same end of the second sleeping stall ring 3b as the sector 18, leading from the first circular passage 4 to the second circular passage 5, as well as a second connecting passage 14 leading from the first circular passage 4 to the second circular passage 5, placed in a carefully selected location between the ends of the second sleeping stall ring 3b located in sector 17. Further, in addition to the connecting passage 13 placed at the milking robot 11 end of the inner sleeping stall ring 3c, there is a connecting passage 14 leading from the circular passage 5 to circular passage 6, which , connecting passage is again placed in a carefully selected location between the ends of the sleeping stall ring 3c located in sector 17, advantageously into an essentially same radial line with the abovementioned connecting passage 14 that leads to circular passage 5. Thus the two connecting passages 14 offer an essentially direct link from the outermost sleeping stall ring 3a to the innermost circular passage 6.

At the centre of the innermost ring 3c there is a milking robot 11, so whenever cows go to feed or drink they are stimulated to go for milking. Thanks to the short distances, the cows have good visual and aural contact with the milking robot 11, which stimulates their lactation hormones and encourages them to visit the milking robot more often. Thanks to the solution according to the invention, cows have a very short distance, usually always about 10 metres to go to the milking robot from any location within the building. The sector-type structure of the building also fits with the cows' natural need .for space, because the sleeping stall area where the cows need the most space, has the most space per animal due to the sector-type structure, the next-

largest amount of space per animal being in the feeding area and with the milking robot 11 being at the centre.

The animals have complete freedom of movement within the building, which allows them to wander according to their own will and schedule along the circular grate passages 4, 5 and 6, and along the radial connecting passages 13 and 14, from their sleeping stalls to the milking robots 11 and the feeding equipment 8 and back. The connecting passages 13 are located close to the milking robot 11 at the cut off milking robot 11 sided ends of the two innermost sleeping stall rings 3b, 3c, while the connecting passages 14 are located at suitably and carefully selected locations, in terms of feeding and milking traffic, in order to cut off the sleep- ing stall rings 3b, 3c and to open connections between all of the sleeping stall rings 3a-3c at the mentioned carefully selected locations. All distances are designed to be as short as possible in order for the free movement to work out well, and to prevent even the most timid animals from feel- ing that they are boxed-in or afraid to move freely due to a long distance, in such a way that a roundabout route is always easy to find. The routes of the animals indicating continuous arrows Ia representing the feeding traffic, and dashed arrows Ib representing the milking traffic, clearly indicate that there are no traffic jams or crosswise traffic problems that are present in the prior art technology, and that the animals can easily move at their own pace along the shortest possible route to be milked or to feed and drink.

One way to direct the animals' feeding and milking in the method according to the invention is as follows: the cows are directed essentially using at least a feeding traffic directed towards the centre of the building from at least one, and most suitably from the two outermost sleeping stall areas 3a, 3b to the feeding equipment 8, essentially using at least the circular passages 4, 5 and essentially using the essentially radial connecting passages 13, 14 that point

towards the centre of the building and connect the circular passages 4 and 5. At the same time during their feeding movements, the cows are directed, at least at some point of their journey, essentially closer to the milking robot 11 than their own sleeping stalls are located. Only by coming to the feeding equipment 8 from the two outermost sleeping stall areas 3a, 3b, the cows automatically come closer to the milking robot 11 than their own sleeping stalls are located. In order to boost the effect of this, connecting pas- sages 13 are placed at the milking robot 11 ends of the second and third sleeping stall rings 3b and 3c, connecting all of the sleeping stall rings 3a-3c and all of the circular passages 4-6, which means that when returning from the feeding equipment 8 to their sleeping stalls, the cows are advantageously directed to pass through the connecting passage 13 located close to the milking robot 11 at the end of the second and/or third sleeping stall ring 3b, 3c.

Further, in the method according to the invention, in the milking traffic, the cows are directed as quickly as possible from the sleeping stalls located essentially the furthest from the milking robot 11, using the connecting passages 14 located in the middle of the second and third sleeping stall rings 3b, 3c, to the third circular passage 6 and along it to the milking robot 11. Thus some of the cows going to the milking robot 11 are directed at as early a stage as possible away from the second circular passage 5, which might have more simultaneous feeding traffic.

It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the embodiment example given above, but it may be varied within the scope of the patent claims presented hereinafter. Thus, for example, the number of circular sleeping stall rows can vary from the abovemen- tioned three, being for example two or four, or even greater .

It is also obvious to the person skilled in the art that the structural details of the production building can differ from those given above. However, the essential element consists of the connections between the placement of the miIk- ing robot and the cows' routes, with the milking robot being placed at the centre of the building in a location to which all the cows have a short and easy route, and which causes the cows to pass the milking robot often, for example after feeding or drinking.