A system comprises a milking box, a robotic attacher, a sensor, and a controller. The milking box has a stall to accommodate a dairy livestock. The stall comprises a first exit gate on a first side of the stall leading to a first sorting region and a second exit gate on a second side of the stall leading to a second sorting region. The robotic attacher extends from the rear between the hind legs of the dairy livestock. The sensor identifies the dairy livestock within the milking box stall. The controller selects and opens the first exit gate or the second exit gate based at least in part upon the identity of the dairy livestock.

A milking arrangement that includes at least a first and a second milking system for milking animals, a common entrance lane configured to allow a plurality of animals to enter the milking arrangement, and a guiding structure configured to guide each of the plurality of animals to either one of the first and second milking systems to be milked therein, where the guiding structure comprises a smart gate arrangement that guides each animal, after having been identified, to a respective one of the first and second milking systems depending on the identity of the animal, and where, depending upon selected periods of time, such as during periods of low expected or measured utilization of the milking arrangement, the smart gate arrangement guides each animal to a single one of the first and second milking systems irrespective of the identity of the animal.

A robotic attacher includes an arm that extends between the legs of a dairy livestock and a gripping portion coupled to the arm. The gripping portion is operable to rotate such that at a first time, a nozzle is positioned generally on the bottom of the gripping portion, and at a second time, the nozzle is positioned generally on the top of the gripping portion.

Livestock handling equipment characterized by a modular alley construction employing shared bows with hole-penetrated front and rear faces for fastening of elongated structural beams and coupling of side panels at both of said faces. Longitudinally protruding coupling members on said side panels for engaging said holes include grooved and longitudinally extendable/retractable pivot pins at the bottom ends of the side panels. Selectively mountable/removable cladding members enable convenient strategic customization of cladding coverage to optimize livestock flow via pressure zone techniques, physical intervention and/or light-based attraction, and also enable physical access for inspection and treatment of the animals.

A system comprises a milking box, a robotic attacher, a sensor, and a controller. The milking box has a stall to accommodate a dairy livestock. The stall comprises a first exit gate on a first side of the stall leading to a first sorting region and a second exit gate on a second side of the stall leading to a second sorting region. The robotic attacher extends from the rear between the hind legs of the dairy livestock. The sensor identifies the dairy livestock within the milking box stall. The controller selects and opens the first exit gate or the second exit gate based at least in part upon the identity of the dairy livestock in order to direct the first dairy livestock into either the first sorting region or the second sorting region.

A portable, trapping system for capturing and non-lethally retaining a large number of large animals, such as wild horses or feral hogs. A specialized trailer aligns and secures deployable corral components for transportation. The corral comprises a modular fence erected on-site from multiple fence panels that are hinged together by pinning. The fence panels are configured with voids to prevent animal climbing. A gate with a remotely actuated trap door is similarly pinned between adjacent fence panels. The gate threshold is concealable. Stakes secure panels to the ground, forming a stable enclosure. The trailer comprises a rigid, confining frame structure adapted to constrain and transport corral components. When the corral is disassembled, multiple individual fence panels are slidably captivated between channels on first and second confining surfaces, being maintained in a parallel and stable configuration during transportation.

A method of operating a robotic attacher, comprises extending a robotic attacher between the legs of a dairy livestock. The method further comprises attaching milking equipment to the dairy livestock using a gripping portion of the robotic attacher during a milking operation, wherein the gripping portion has a nozzle that is positioned away from a teat of the dairy livestock during the milking operation. The method further comprises rotating the gripping portion of the robotic attacher so that the nozzle is positioned to face a teat of the dairy livestock during a spraying operation.

The invention relates to a pivotable path boundary (15) for directed animal traffic and for singling out animals of different size, said path boundary allowing the path width to be adjusted easily and with low risk to humans and animals. A path boundary is provided which allows variability of the width of the path without complex conversion measures. The invention is used in particular to organize animals in the entry region of milking parlors and treatment stands.

A reader comprising: a panel; two antennae each associated with a respective race to transmit and/or receive information to/from an electronic animal tag in that respective race; and an electromagnetic shield to impede an antenna from transmitting and/or receiving information to/from an electronic animal tag not located in the respective race of that antenna; a system for reading electronic animal tags comprising: a plurality of readers each located at or near a wall of a respective plurality of races, wherein each reader is at least partially shielded by an electromagnetic shield; each reader being longitudinally offset with respect to at least one other reader in the plurality of readers; and methods of constructing and using a reader.

A tag assignment system, comprising a processing circuitry and being communicatively connected to a data repository comprising records, each of which (i) being associated with a respective distinct animal of a plurality of animals, and (ii) including a Unique Animal Identifier (UAI) associated with the respective distinct animal; the processing circuitry is configured to: substantially simultaneously: (i) obtain an ID reading of an animal identification tag attached to a given animal of the animals from a first tag reading device, wherein the ID reading including the UAI uniquely identifying the given animal, and (ii) obtain a tag reading of a second tag attached to the given animal from a second tag reading device, the tag reading including tag identification information uniquely identifying the second tag; and cause update of the data repository to assign the tag identification information to a given record of the records associated with the UAI.