WO2015156683A1

WO2015156683A1 - Milking system identifier

Info

Publication number: WO2015156683A1
Application number: PCT/NZ2015/000020
Authority: WO
Inventors: Richard John Doohan; John-Gerard Robert van BEEK; Jose Gustavo Garza RUIZ
Original assignee: Dairy Automation Limited
Priority date: 2014-04-08
Filing date: 2015-03-31
Publication date: 2015-10-15

Abstract

An identification system including a milking bail identifier, and a remote reader configured to read the unique milking bail identifier, and a reader configured to read the identification of a milking animal associated with the milking bail.

Description

MILKING SYSTEM IDENTIFIER

BACKGROUND ART

Dairy farming is becoming increasingly sophisticated with farmers wanting more and more data, not only in terms of overall herd performance, but also in relation to individual animals.

It is standard practice to individually identify cows through providing each cow with a unique RFID ear tag and for farmers to have records of individual cows which helps them make decisions regarding such matters as culling, breeding, medical treatment, animal specific feed rations as well as measurement of milk production efficiency. Individual cow data in terms of parameters around milking (e.g. yield, somatic cell count and milk composition) are relatively easy to obtain from cows milked by robotic milking machines. This is because there is usually only one milking unit and only one cow in the vicinity thereof. Thus, the identification of the cow can be readily linked with the milk being collected from that unit. However, it is difficult to positively ID a cow in a particular milking bail in a rotary milking system. These systems work by having a rotating platform with a number of milking bails situated around the perimeter. Cows enter the bails and are milked for one or two rotations of the platform (depending on milking speed) before exiting the bail.

It is also difficult to positively identify a cow in a herringbone milking system, as the cows stand in a row side by side, allowing them to jostle horizontally, and appearing to be in alternative milking positions.

Various systems have been developed to try and provide accurate identification of a bail along with linking that to a particular cow while taking into account the additional problems of having moving bails. One such system uses an encoder associated with the platform along with an external bail plate. The encoder only provides a reading as to the speed of rotation of the platform and the external bail plate is used as an external trigger to give a starting point for the encoder measurement. Thus, a calculation can be made as to position of the bail through determining distance. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this system. It should be appreciated that the nature of rotary platforms is that a clear space is needed to mount the external bail plate. This is usually achieved by engineering another ring structure on to the platform. As can be appreciated, this is an expensive operation.

An alternative to the previous system is to use a digital compass which does not require an external bail plate as such to act as a trigger. However, these devices need to determine the angle at which they operate and are prone to errors as in general rotary units are not precision engineered, and unlikely to sufficiently compensate for the narrow boundaries between bails.

Another problem associated with the previous systems is that neither of them provides a positive identification of the bail linked with the RFID tag detected in the bail. Everything is inferred and prone to error.

Other alternative systems use RFID tags attached at bail locations on the rotary platform, while these provide potential for positive bail identification, these systems are limited by the active nature of the technology. Special timing, frequencies or hardware configuration may be required to ensure the system is immune from environmental noise, compatible with engineering variation and non-disruption to the primary RFID systems used to identify cows.

It would be desirable if there could be provided a system which is relatively inexpensive to install, plus provide a positive identification system that takes into the account the vagaries of a milking shed environment.

It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.

All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.

Throughout this specification, the word "comprise", or variations thereof such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps. Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an identification system for use with a milking system, the identification system including a milking bail identifier, and a remote reader configured to read the unique milking bail identifier, and a reader configured to read the identification of a milking animal associated with the milking bail.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of determining the presence of a specific milking animal associated with a specific milking bail, characterised by the steps of a) reading the milking animal identification, and b) reading the unique milking bail identifier with a remote reader, and c) determining the presence of the milking animal within the bail, and d) using the data from steps a) to c) to confirm the presence of a particular animal in that particular milking bail.

It is envisaged that the present invention has particular application to milking systems based on using a rotary milking platform. However, it is thought that variations of the present invention could also be used in other systems, say a herringbone set up.

It can be seen that the present invention is designed to provide a positive identification of the cow in combination with the milking bail in time and space. This leads to the ability to track milk parameters associated with an individual cow and thus greater management of the herd. Further, the present invention enables the above to occur in a cost effective way by having a remote reader determining with a specific bail identification rather than requiring installation of expensive rings and so forth on to the rotary platform. The milking bail identifier in accordance with the present invention may come in a number of forms. For example, it may be a visual indicator such as a QR code, bar bode, colour or a unique picture.

In some embodiments the identifier may be non-visual, for example an audio or electronic signal which can still be read by a remote reader.

Preferably however the identifier is in the form of a bar code and shall be referred to as same throughout the specification.

A bar code is preferred as it can be easily read and interpreted using existing software.

Another advantage of using bar codes is that if the code is placed such that the bars are substantially horizontal, then only a small vertical slice of the bar code needs to be read in order to obtain all of the data to identify the bail. That is, although the bail is constantly moving, the remote reader would only need to scan a small part of the code to get the information required.

It should also be appreciated that milking systems are inherently exposed to dirt and waste products and cobwebs which means that any identifier (particularly visual) can end up being partially obscured as a result. Thus, in preferred embodiments the identifier has a built-in redundancy which still enables the identifier to be read even if partially obscured. It should be noted that this is a feature present within bar codes and associated software.

The identifier may be placed on the bail in a number of ways. For example, if a visual identifier is used, the identifier may merely be adhered to the bail. The identifier preferably has a waterproof surface and sufficient structural integrity to withstand the rigors of a milking shed.

Preferably also the surface of the identifier is substantially matte (that is, diffusive rather than reflective) so that little if any interference occurs as a consequence of reflections that may impede the ability of the reader to read the identifier. In preferred embodiment, the identifier is in a form of an adhesive label with the bar code printed on a stiff substrate with an adhesive product on the non-visual, side. In an exemplary embodiment, the label has a surface coating of Velvet Lexan.

However, alternatives are envisaged such as using a laser cut or etched plate or direct paint application using a stencil. Preferably the bail identifier is mounted relatively central to the milking bail and at a position best representing the circumference of travel by the cow identifier. This is to minimise any angular irregularities in the rotary platform construction and to allow the reading of the bail identifier to be undertaken at a reasonable speed. The remote reader may be of any type that can read the identifier without being physically connected thereto.

If the identifier is visual, then the reader will be most likely be in the form of a camera, although other sensors may be used for other types of identifiers.

Reference throughout the specification will now be made to the reader as being a camera. Preferably the camera is mounted in an area least affected by environmental conditions, with an unobstructed view of the bail identifier.

In preferred embodiments, the camera is an infrared reader which has significant advantages in the milking shed environment. As mentioned previously, it is possible for an identifier to be partially obscured whether it is by dirt or cobwebs. An infrared camera is less likely to get false readings than visible light cameras in that situation.

Further, a milking shed is subject to considerable changes in ambient light in the visible spectrum. An infrared camera is more impervious to having those fluctuations affect its ability to read an identifier.

The speed at which the bar code would move pass the camera is likely to vary according to a number of factors including the relative placement of the bar code and the camera and the actual speed of the rotary platform. However, the Inventors envisage that the speed will be in the order of 0.07 metres per second to 0.1 metres per second. Thus, they calculate that an ideally sized barcode would have a length of 120mm and a height of 40mm, conforming to barcode specification Code_128. Preferably the camera operates substantially in the wavelength range of 850nm as this has been well proven for industrial automation technologies where resilience is required to compensate against dust, organic matter such as cobwebs, ambient temperature and lighting variation.

In preferred embodiments as in the present invention, the camera is controlled to trigger its reading of the barcode so as to avoid the camera to be continuously processing the data from previous readings, instead optimising the processing window in order to successfully read the next barcode. The trigger may come in a number of forms, but it is envisaged that a relatively simple way to do this would be to provide edge detection associated with the leading and rear edges of the barcode. Thus, the processing time can be stopped and started within the length of the barcode. In some embodiments the edges of the barcodes may be different to each other and therefore the order of the edges as read by the camera can provide a clue as to the direction of the bail movement.

It is envisaged that the reader configured to read the identification of the milking animal will be in most cases a standard reader as most commonly used - such as an RFID ear tag reader, RFID leg tag, neck tag or visual tag. It should be appreciated however that other readers may be used depending on how the animal is identified.

It is envisaged that the present invention could be used with milking animals of various species (e.g. sheep or goats), however in most instances it is likely that they will be cows and shall be referred to as such throughout this specification. In some embodiments of the present invention there may be provided an additional proximity sensor to determine if the cow has moved in or out of the bail. It is critical to get validation that a cow was in a particular bail and it should be appreciated that this can be difficult given that cows move significantly within bails as well as extending their head (and sometimes limbs) outside of the bail boundaries. In preferred embodiments the proximity sensor is in the form of an opposed photoelectric system, comprised of an emitter and receiver where the reflective or absorptive surface parameters of the detecting object can be ignored.

The inventors have also developed redundancy measures to avoid errors in getting positive validation that a cow is present in the bail. For example, if a bail identification is obscured, it is possible in some embodiments to reference data back to the next bail/RFID combination to infer the position of the cow and a bail with unreadable ID.

By elevating some portion of the barcode, the leading and trailing edges can be detected using a pair of proximity sensors to provide direction. By tracking direction, the current bail position can be inferred from the last positively identified position, allowing for the application of the current Cow RFID to the correct bail. In an exemplary method of operation in relation to a rotary, the following steps are undertaken:

• The cow enters a milking shed with a unique identifier in the form of an RFID ear tag.

• First the cow enters a milking bail

• The cow then moves with the rotary platform towards the RFID ear tag reader · The RFID ear tag reader starts reading the RFID ear tag as the cow moves into the tag reader field

• The bail identifying barcode is read, the cow is now central to reader

• If the barcode is unable to be read or returns nonsense data, the true position of the cow can be inferred via the edge detecting proximity sensors, whereby bail counting is continued from the last known position

• The cow presence is confirmed via the cow validation proximity sensor

• The unmatched EID register is reviewed and the most relevant EID applied to the

current bail position

The present invention has a number of advantages over prior art. Firstly, a positive identification can be made of a particular bail which is linked to a specific cow. This provides the ability to assign individual parameters associated with the milk coming from that cow to that cow's individual profile. This also enables the cow as it exits the rotary platform to be drafted according to other parameters, for example checking on heath exception alerts such as likelihood of mastitis, where the alert originates from analysis of recorded milk conductivity history.

The present invention enables the above to be done without having to install expensive engineering additions to the rotary platform, or use inferred position devices such as encoders and digital compasses that are unsuitable to the rigors of a milking environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Figure 1 a illustrates a plan view of a rotary milking platform and identification system in accordance with one aspect of the present invention; and

Figure 1 b illustrates an end view of system in Figure 1 a; Figure 2 is a flow chart showing the decision points in the algorithm associated with one embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 3 is a diagram of a barcode which could be used in accordance with the present invention.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Figures 1 a and 1 b are different views of the same rotary milking platform and identification system generally indicated by arrow (1). The milking platform (2) is shown supporting a couple of cows (3) thereon. The cows (3) are in milking bails which are defined by rails (4). Each bail has positioned above it a unique identifier in the form of an adhesive label (5). This is more clearly illustrated in Figure 3.

The label (5) has printed upon it a horizontally aligned barcode (6) sandwiched between two panels (7) identifying the actual bail number in numeral form.

Above the cow (3) and substantially aligned with the barcode (6) is a barcode camera (8) along with a proximity sensor (9).

The operation of the apparatus as shown in Figures 1 a and 1 b is outlined in the algorithm shown in Figure 2.

The phrase EID mentioned in the algorithm is an acronym for Electronic Identification Device which in preferred embodiments is an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) tag. Initially a cow enters a milking bail and then moves with the rotary platform towards an EID reader.

The EID reader starts to read the cows EID as it moves into the tag reader field. If the EID data has not been processed, then the EID and time read is placed into the unprocessed EID list.

Next, the barcode (6) of the bail is read as at this stage and the cow is now central to the barcode camera (8).

If the barcode (6) is unable to be read or returns nonsense data, the true position of the cow can be inferred by the edge detecting proximity sensors (9) in combination with bail counting being continued from the last known position.

If there is a relevant EID in the unprocessed list that can be assigned to the bail, then this is done so and the EID is moved to the processed list. If there is no relevant EID, then in the system the bail is assigned 'No EID'.

Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. An identification system including a milking bail identifier, and a remote reader configured to read the unique milking bail identifier, and a reader configured to read the identification of a milking animal associated with the milking bail.

2. An identification system as claimed in claim 1 , adapted for use in relation to a rotary milking system.

3. An identification system as claimed in either 1 or claim 2, wherein the bail identifier is in the form of a barcode.

4. An identification system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the barcode has the barcode lines positioned substantially horizontally with respect to the milking bail.

5. An identification system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the surface of the bail identifier is matte.

6. An identification system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the bail identifier is mounted relatively central to the milking bail.

7. An identification system as claimed in any ones of claims 1 to 6, wherein the reader is a camera.

8. An identification system as claimed in claim in 7, wherein the camera is an infrared

camera.

9. An identification system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the infrared camera operates substantially in the wave length of 850nm.

10. An identification system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the reader is controlled to trigger the reading of the identifier.

11. An identification system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the trigger is in the form of edge detection.

12. An identification system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 , wherein the reader is a RFID reader.

13. An identification system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, which includes a proximity sensor.

14. A method of determining the presents of a specific milking animal associated with a specific milking bail, characterised by the steps of a) reading the milking animal identification, and b) reading the unique milking bail identifier with a remote reader, and c) determining the presence of the milking animal within the bail, and d) using the data from steps a) to c) to confirm the presence of a particular animal in that particular milking bail.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14 characterised in that the method is carried out in relation to a rotary milking system. 6. A method as claimed in either claims 14 or claim 15, wherein the bail identifier is in the form of a barcode.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the barcode has its lines position substantially horizontal to the milking bail.

18. A method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the remote reader is in the form of an infrared camera.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the camera is controlled to trigger the reading of the identifier.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 which uses edge detection to trigger the camera.

21. An identification system substantially as herein described with reference to and as

illustrated by the drawings and accompanying description.

22. A method of determining the presents of a specific milking animal associated with a

specific milking bail substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated by the drawings and accompanying description.