NL2010543C2

NL2010543C2 - Housing for livestock.

Info

Publication number: NL2010543C2
Application number: NL2010543A
Authority: NL
Inventors: Jan Arie Frederik Grootveld
Original assignee: Jan Arie Frederik Grootveld; Grootveld Max Arie John; Grootveld Giulia Anna Maria
Priority date: 2013-03-28
Filing date: 2013-03-28
Publication date: 2014-09-30

Description

Housing for livestock

The present invention is in the general field of intensive farming and relates to housing for livestock comprising at least one tier of linearly arranged cages, each cage being enclosed by cage walls, at least one of said cage walls being openable- or having an opening- for adding or removing livestock, wherein each cage further has a first fixed surface for a housed animal to rest upon.

The invention was developed in the context of poultry rearing, but is equally applicable for other livestock that can be intensively reared such as other poultry, or for instance swine or ferrets.

Until the 1970s, chickens and other poultry were typically housed in sheds on litter at ground level. Disadvantages were perceived to be the easy spread of disease, low occupation per unit ground area and the large amount of manual work required. This led to a change-over to the so-called battery system wherein animals are housed in batteries of cages arranged in one or more layers. An early example of a battery cage system is described in NL-A-7109684.

The battery cage system of NL-A-7109684 comprises at least one tier of cages arranged in end-to-end relationship, each individual cage having side walls and upper and bottom walls, wherein at least a proportion of the bottom of each cage is movable between a closed position and an open position in which the cage space communicates with a continuous collecting and conveying compartment, immediately between each tier of cages, the bottom of which is constituted by a conveyor belt spaced below the tier of cages at such a distance such that the height of the collecting compartment is sufficient to accommodate matured chickens.

Whilst there have been numerous innovations and improvements over the years e.g. relating to air circulation, provision of food and removal of waste, the basic design of battery cage systems has remained the same. In a typical European battery cage, 13 chickens are housed per square metre.

This number can be different in other parts of the world.

At a housing density of 13 chickens per square metre, each chicken has about 0.075 m2 of space. This is not enough space for the chicken to be able to exercise effectively. As a result, chickens housed under these conditions can suffer from boredom and frustration and may act violently towards each other. Furthermore, muscles are not able to develop normally.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome one or more of the disadvantages of housing systems of the prior art.

In a first aspect, the invention relates to housing for livestock such as poultry, swine or ferrets comprising at least one tier of linearly arranged cages, each cage being enclosed by cage walls, at least one of said cage walls being openable- or having an opening- for adding or removing livestock, each cage further having a first fixed surface for a housed' animal to rest upon, wherein each cage further comprises a second moving surface for a housed animal to walk upon.

The second moving surface is. preferably configured such that, in use, a housed animal can walk on the second moving surface whilst remaining substantially in the same place. Thus in effect, each cage comprises a treadmill upon which the housed animal can exercise. An advantage of such an arrangement are that the housed animal needs only a minimum of space in which to exercise.

In a preferred embodiment, the housing further comprises an endless belt configured for unidirectional rotation, wherein the second moving surface of each cage in a tier of the at least one tier of linearly arranged cages is formed by the endless belt.

Advantageously, a single endless belt and accompanying power mechanism provides the second moving surface of all cages in a tier of cages. This is a mechanically simple and cost effective way of providing each cage with a second moving surface .

In a preferred embodiment, the housing further comprises a feeding mechanism arranged to provide feed on the second moving surface.

By providing feed on the second moving surface, a housed animal can be encouraged to exercise. Such a mechanism is preferably to manually having to provide feed on the second moving surfaces and can for example be linked to a controller having a predefined dosing program.

In a preferred embodiment, the endless belt is preferably configured relative to each cage such that feed provided on the endless belt at one extremity of a tier of the at least one tier of linearly arranged cages passes through all cages in the tier. Thus only a single feeding mechanism needs to be provided per tier of cages. The number of food feeding mechanisms can however be tailored to the needs in order to meet the required supply of food, also at the cages downstream. This applies in particular when the number of cages in one tier is high.

In a second aspect, the invention relates to a method for encouraging caged livestock to exercise comprising providing food on a moving surface of the cage.

Intensively reared livestock such as poultry, swine and ferrets typically suffer from a lack of exercise leading to e.g. boredom and frustration, sometimes leading them to act violently. Providing housing such as the housing of the invention can go some way towards preventing these problems, however the effectivness can be further improved by providing encouragement for the animals to exercise. This can be achieved by providing food on the moving surface.

In a preferred embodiment, the moving surface comprises a treadmill.

In a further preferred embodiment, the food is placed on the moving surface such that an animal can reach the food only when said animal is on the moving surface.

Such an arrangement offers the advantage that a housed animal can only reach the food upon performing exercise.

The invention will hereafter be further elucidated with reference to the Drawing of Figure 1 showing an exemplary embodiment of the housing for livestock of the invention. The Drawing is not to be considered to limit the scope of the invention .

Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of the housing for livestock of the invention.

The housing 1 for chicken comprising at least one tier of linearly arranged cages 2, each cage 3 being enclosed by cage walls 4 (for clarity some of the cage walls have been excluded from the Figure 1), at least one of said cage walls (not shown) being openable- or having an opening- for adding or removing livestock, each cage 3 further having a first fixed surface 5 for a housed animal to rest upon, wherein each cage 3 further comprises a second moving surface 6 for a housed animal A to walk upon.

The total combined surface area of the first fixed surface 5 and the second moving surface 6 of each cage 3 is ap-pox. 0.25 m2. E.g. the cage has dimensions of 0.5 metres by 0.5 metres. Such is optimum in terms of permitting exercise whilst having a maximum number of chicken per square metre. Other dimensions are however also feasible without compromising the benefits of the invention. The height of each cage is sufficient for a chicken to be able to stand.

The second moving surface 6 is configured such that, in use, a housed animal can walk on the second moving surface whilst remaining substantially in the same place.

The housing 1 further comprises an endless belt 7 configured for unidirectional rotation, wherein the second moving surface 6 of each cage 3 in a tier of the at least one tier of linearly arranged cages 2 is formed by the endless belt 7.

The housing 1 further comprises a feeding mechanism (not shown) arranged to provide feed F on the second moving surface 6. A person skilled in the art can envisage many embodiments of suitable feeding mechanisms. Preferably the mechanism is automated.

The endless belt 7 is configured relative to each cage 3 such that feed F provided on the endless belt 7 at one extremity of a tier of the at least one tier of linearly arranged cages 2 passes through all cages 3 in the tier. E.g. the endless belt 7 passes a small distance under the lowest edge of the cage .

The housing 1 may, and preferably does, further comprises features for improving air circulation, heating and/or cooling, and/or for removing waste. Such features are familiar to a person skilled in the art. Another option is to provide the endless belt 7 with a detection system to monitor whether the livestock still actively moves on it, and a break-system connected with the detection system to interrupt moving of the endless belt when the livestock has problems in moving or in getting back to the first fixed surface 5 to rest.

Although only one tier is shown, the housing preferably has at least three tiers to achieve desirable financial viability .

Claims

Housing (1) for livestock such as poultry, or, for example, pigs or ferrets, comprising at least one floor of linearly arranged cages (2), wherein each cage (3) with cage walls (4) is closed, at least one said cage walls can be opened or provided with an opening for adding or removing livestock (not shown), each cage (3) further having a first fixed surface (5) for an animal housed therein for resting on it, characterized in that each cage further comprises a second moving surface (6) for a housed animal to walk on.

Housing (1) for livestock according to claim 1, characterized in that the second moving surface (6) is arranged such that during use a housing animal (A) can run on the second moving surface (6), wherein it remains in the same position.

A livestock housing (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the housing (1) further comprises an endless belt (7) configured for unidirectional rotation, the second moving surface (6) of each cage (3) of a recess of the cages (2) arranged linearly behind each other in at least one recess is formed by the endless belt (7).

The livestock housing (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the housing (1) further comprises a feeding mechanism (not shown) adapted to provide food on the second moving surface (6).

Livestock housing (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that the endless belt (7) is configured with respect to each cage (3) such that food (F) is arranged on the endless belt (7) at one end of a floor of the at least one floor of linearly arranged cages (2), passes through all the cages in that floor.

A method for promoting living goods contained in cages to move, comprising providing food on a moving surface of the cage.

The method of claim 6, wherein the moving surface comprises a treadmill.

A method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the food is placed on the moving surface such that an animal can only reach the food when the animal is on the moving surface.