Physical monitoring system for feedlot animals
First Claim
1. An animal monitoring system, comprising:
- a sleeve capable of being removably attached to an appendage of an animal to be monitored, the sleeve having an inner surface adapted to be adjacent to the surface of the appendage;
a biosensor attached to the inner surface of the sleeve for measuring at least one physiological parameter of the animal;
a pouch formed in the sleeve; and
an instrument pack for insertion into the pouch, the instrument pack having a microprocessor operatively connected to the biosensor for activating an alarm when the measured physiological parameter of the monitored animal meets predetermined alarm activation criteria.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The health and welfare of feedlot animals are observed with a monitoring system that is simple to implement and easily expandable depending on the feedlot operator'"'"'s need. The monitoring system uses a sleeve that is removably attached to an appendage of the animal, such as its tail. The sleeve contains a biosensor for sensing the animal'"'"'s physiological parameters and a microprocessor for processing these sensed parameters. When the animal'"'"'s monitored physiological parameter is out of a predetermined "healthy" range, the microprocessor activates an alarm to alert the feedlot operator of a potential health problem for that particular animal. The sleeve can optionally contain a transmitter so that the sensed physiological parameters can be transmitted to a base station. Additionally, the monitoring system can be expanded to include animal tracking capability so that the animal'"'"'s feeding and watering habits can also be monitored at the base station. A GPS-system or a tag-based system may be used to track the animals.
128 Citations
42 Claims
-
1. An animal monitoring system, comprising:
-
a sleeve capable of being removably attached to an appendage of an animal to be monitored, the sleeve having an inner surface adapted to be adjacent to the surface of the appendage; a biosensor attached to the inner surface of the sleeve for measuring at least one physiological parameter of the animal; a pouch formed in the sleeve; and an instrument pack for insertion into the pouch, the instrument pack having a microprocessor operatively connected to the biosensor for activating an alarm when the measured physiological parameter of the monitored animal meets predetermined alarm activation criteria. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. An animal monitoring system, comprising:
-
a sleeve capable of being removably attached to an appendage of an animal, the sleeve having an inner surface adapted to be adjacent to the surface of the appendage; one or more biosensors attached to the inner surface of the sleeve for sensing one or more physiological parameters of the animal and for providing one or more signals representative of the one or more physiological parameters being sensed; a pouch formed in the sleeve; and an instrument pack for insertion into the pouch, the instrument pack having a microprocessor operatively connected to the one or more biosensors for receiving the one or more signals from the one or more biosensors and activating an alarm in response thereto when pre-determined alarm activation criteria have been met; a transmitter operatively connected to the microprocessor for transmitting signals identifying the animal and providing data relating to the one or more physiological parameters being sensed by the biosensors; and a base station spaced from the animal for receiving the signals from the transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. An animal monitoring system, comprising:
-
a sleeve capable of being removably attached to an appendage of an animal, the sleeve having an inner surface; one or more biosensors for sensing one or more physiological parameters of the animal, the biosensors being coupled to the inner surface of the sleeve; a microprocessor operatively connected to the biosensors for activating an alarm when pre-determined alarm activation criteria have been met; a base station; a transmitter operatively connected to the microprocessor for transmitting signals to the base station identifying the animal and providing data relating to the one or more physiological parameters as sensed by the biosensor; and a location determination system for measuring when and how long a particular animal is at a feed bunk or water trough. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
Specification