A living area includes a lying and eating area and a milking area. The living area is connected to a separation area by a selection device. A subgroup of dairy animals to be separated is determined together with a desired end time at which the dairy animals to be separated should be present in the separation area. For each individual dairy animal from the subgroup to be separated, an individual separation period is determined separately which runs from the individually determined start time until the end time. A dairy animal which walks to the selection device is guided by the selection device to the separation area if the dairy animal belongs to the subgroup of dairy animals to be separated and if said dairy animal is present at the selection device during the individual separation period determined for said dairy animal. The activity of each dairy animal in the group of dairy animals is observed by an observation system while the dairy animal is in the lying and eating area. The individual separation period of each individual dairy animal from the subgroup to be separated depends on the activity of said dairy animal observed by the observation system.

The invention relates to a device for directed animal traffic, comprising at least three sectors, a loop path, which is connected to the sectors, and, for each sector, a segment of the loop path that forms a transition region from the sector into the loop path, wherein the segment comprises a swinging gate, which allows an animal to enter the loop path from a sector and allows only one walking direction of the animal in the loop path, and a selection unit arranged after the swinging gate as viewed in the walking direction of the animal, by means of which selection unit the animal is directed into the sector or can walk further on the loop path.

No new matter is added.

A method of operating a robotic attacher, includes suspending a robotic attacher from a rail and extending the robotic attacher between the legs of a dairy livestock. The method continues by 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 concludes by 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.

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 control arrangement for controlling movement of animals, with at least two smart gate arrangements and a same number of enclosed transit areas, wherein smart gate arrangement includes an entrance through which animals can enter, an animal identifier identifies each animal entering the smart gate arrangement, and three separate exits, through which each animal can be selectively guided to exit the smart gate arrangement after having been identified, and wherein each transit area is provided with a first one of the exits of a first one of the smart gate arrangements and an entrance of a neighboring second one of the smart gate arrangements with an unobstructed pathway therebetween contained within the transit area, the plurality of enclosed transit areas being interconnected via the smart gate arrangements such that an animal can be guided through the at least two smart gate arrangements via the transit areas in a circulating manner.

A robotic attacher comprises a gripping portion, a vision system positioned on a first surface of the gripping portion, and at least one nozzle positioned on a second surface of the gripping portion. The gripping portion is rotates about a longitudinal axis such that during a first time, the vision system is positioned generally on the top of the gripping portion, and during a second time, the nozzle is positioned generally on the top of the gripping portion.

A robotic attacher comprises a main arm, a supplemental arm coupled to the main arm, and a gripping portion coupled to the supplemental 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.

A method and control arrangement for controlling an automated crowd gate that operates to form a side of a holding area and moves in relation to an entrance of a destination in order to cause animals located in the holding area to move towards the destination, wherein location data defining individual positions of one or more animals located in the holding area is obtained from a real-time location system, location data, a current position of the crowd gate is obtained, and an operation of the crowd gate is controlled based on the obtained position of the crowd gate and the obtained location data of the animals.

An animal sorting device, including a housing, a sorting box, a placement box, and a screening device, where the sorting box is located in the housing, and a screening channel is formed in the sorting box and is provided with a material inlet and a material outlet; the placement box is located in the housing and communicates with the material outlet of the screening channel; and the screening device is disposed on the sorting box and includes an RFID module and a closing mechanism. According to the animal sorting device in the present disclosure, the animals are placed in the sorting box, the tags on the animals are identified by the screening device, and the animals fall into different placement boxes to implement sorting of the animals, thereby reducing the error rate of manual screening, and improving the efficiency of animal screening.

A device for voluntary self-sorting of live aquatic animals, including at least one passage device, by which a water tank is divided into a passage-facilitating region and a passage-obstructing region. The at least one passage device has a plurality of passage openings that can be adapted in size to the aquatic animals to be sorted. Guides are arranged towards the passage-facilitating region and retainers are arranged towards the passage-obstructing region on the passage device. The guides are configured as climbing aids and the retainers are configured as circular walls, which are adapted to a contour of the passage openings. The passage openings are flat and arranged in a carrier plate, and have a height that is larger than a height of the aquatic animals to be sorted.