Directional feeders having a feed slide, a feed pocket and multiple flappers on a rotor are disclosed. The rotor may be configured to have a horizontal axis of rotation such that gravity conveys feed down the feed slide to a feed pocket which redirects the feed into a rotor housing.

A timed or remotely operated wildlife feeder which delivers feed such as whole fruit and nuts by emptying feed storage containers into a chute to deliver feed using potential energy and gravity instead of kinetically broadcasting the feed.

An animal interaction device with a base, a housing, and a feeding mechanism having a rotatable platform mounted on the top surface of the base to rotate about an axis of rotation. There is a low profile drive cavity between the platform and the base and a food tray disposed on a top surface of the platform. A drive mechanism is located within the drive cavity and includes a drive mechanism with a curved rack gear engaged with the rotatable platform. There is a horizontally disposed worm drive mounted in communication with the curved rack gear to enable rotation of the rotatable platform about the axis of rotation. As the platform is rotated, the food tray moves from a first position where the tray is concealed under the housing to a second position outside of the housing, thereby allowing access to the food tray by an animal.

An apparatus for farming animals, with a trough, a distributing system, an identifying system, a database and a control unit that allows, once an animal has been identified, the time passed ‘t’ since the time T.sub.0 corresponding to the last feed of said animal to be measured, a new value of the credit feed weight MC to be computed with the formula $\mathrm{MC}\left(t\right)=\frac{MP}{\Delta T}*\left(t-T_0\right)+M{C}_0$
and a succession of feed portions to be distributed to the trough until the animal is sated or until a zero or negative credit feed weight MC is obtained.

Generating consensus feeding appetite forecasts include providing a first feeding parameter data set associated with a first feeding parameter to a first feeding appetite forecast model and providing a second feeding parameter data set associated with a second feeding parameter to a second feeding appetite forecast model different from the first forecast model. The first feeding appetite forecast model is adaptively weighted with a first weighting factor relative to a second weighting factor for the second feeding appetite forecast model. An aggregated appetite score based on a combination of the first feeding appetite forecast model using the first weight factor and the second feeding appetite forecast model using the second weight factor. Further, a feeding instruction signal based at least in part on the aggregated appetite score is provided for modifying the operations of a feed control system.

Systems and methods for automated pet food dispensing are described. One apparatus includes a receptacle configured to hold a sealed container containing wet pet food. The apparatus may include an electrically-operated plunger configured to interface with the receptacle. A processing system may be connected to the electrically-operated plunger. In one aspect, the processing system is configured to initiate a pet feeding event by actuating the plunger to interface with the receptacle, puncture the sealed container, and dispense the wet pet food into the food bowl. The processing system may maintain a time history to determine one or more future pet feeding events.

An automatic animal feeder includes a bowl, a base unit which accepts the bowl, a lid which may be closed to cover the bowl and prevent access to it, or opened about a hinge to allow access to the bowl, a lid control mechanism capable of keeping the lid closed, or opening the lid, the bowl including a profile on its outer surface, on the side furthest from lid hinge, and a base unit including a corresponding profile on its inner surface. The bowl profile and the base profile interlock when the bowl is positioned in the base unit, such that the side of the bowl with the profile is constrained against being lifted substantially vertically.

A system for the remote care of an item of vegetation used as a potential source of food for an animal, to include at least one of a proximity tag, RFID tag, transponder device, a predetermined machine-readable pattern, and geo-location device associated with the item of vegetation, and an aerial drone. The aerial drone includes a microprocessor, a sensor coupled to the microprocessor and configured to detect the at least one of the proximity tag, RFID tag, transponder device, predetermined machine-readable pattern, and the geo-location device, and a carrier configured to carry a substance comprising at least one of a solid, gas, and liquid. The aerial drone is configured to act in response to instructions issued by the microprocessor.

Embodiments disclosed include systems, apparatus, and/or methods to receive an indication of a target quality of a property associated with a bioproduct obtained from a managed livestock, the target quality being associated with an identified end-use, and generate a set of input vectors based on the target quality of the property. The systems, apparatus, and/or methods can be further configured to provide the set of input vectors to a machine learning model to generate an output indicating a feed selection and/or feed schedule selection to be used to feed the managed livestock. The feed selection can be such that, upon consumption, increase a likelihood of meeting the target quality of the property. In some embodiments, the systems, apparatus, and/or methods include implementation of features like temporal abstraction, auto-tuning of hyperparameters of model/agent, hierarchical/cognitive learning, synthetic state/trajectory generation and/or adaptive lookahead to achieve the desired output.

An animal feed trough is described herein; the animal feed trough mimicking a tree or fallen log. The animal feed trough including a base, a body for storing grain, and an opening for adding grain. The animal feed trough may be mounted to a tree or pole. The base may have a plurality of feed dishes to receive a grain via gravity flow from the body of the feed trough. The trough may have a feed tube to receive grain via gravity flow from the body of the feed trough. The body may have a hinged lid, or lids, to allow animals to feed directly from the body of the trough.