Apparatus and method for delivering feed rations along a feedbunk using a global positioning system
First Claim
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1. A feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot, comprising:
- a database for maintaining geographical coordinate information representative of the positions of;
said feedlot, at least one of objects and animals contained in said feedlot, and a feedlot vehicle located in the feedlot;
wherein the feedlot vehicle is equipped with;
a vehicle information acquisition mechanism comprising (i) a mobile global positioning system (GPS) receiver for acquiring vehicle information regarding at least one of the position and the orientation of said vehicle; and
(ii) an information transmission mechanism for transmitting said vehicle information to said database.
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Abstract
An animal feedlot management system for uniformly delivering assigned feed rations to feedbunks associated with animal pens in a feedlot, in which discretion and direct control over the various suboperations of the feed ration assignment and delivery process are distributed among the individual operators in the system while the feedlot manage is capable of indirectly monitoring the performance of the various suboperations through use of a satellite based global positioning system.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot, comprising:
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a database for maintaining geographical coordinate information representative of the positions of;
said feedlot, at least one of objects and animals contained in said feedlot, and a feedlot vehicle located in the feedlot;
wherein the feedlot vehicle is equipped with; a vehicle information acquisition mechanism comprising (i) a mobile global positioning system (GPS) receiver for acquiring vehicle information regarding at least one of the position and the orientation of said vehicle; and
(ii) an information transmission mechanism for transmitting said vehicle information to said database.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An animal feedlot management system which comprises:
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at least one feedlot vehicle employing;
(a) an on-board feed delivery computer system which includes a feedlot modeling subsystem for maintaining a geometrical model of said feedlot and at least one of animals and objects contained therein; and
(b) an information acquisition mechanism equipped for acquiring information from a satellite-implemented global positioning system (GPS);
said computer system in communication with said information acquisition mechanism;
a coordinate acquisition subsystem for acquiring coordinate information specifying the position of each said feedlot vehicle relative to a coordinate reference system symbolically representing said feedlot, a processing mechanism, coupled to the coordinate acquisition subsystem, for processing said coordinate information in order to repeatedly update said geometrical model; and
a feed delivery mechanism for uniformly delivering a preassigned amount of feed ration along the length of a feedbunk in the feedlot in response to the processing mechanism repeatedly updating the geometrical model based upon information obtained from said coordinate acquisition subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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9. A method of managing an animal feedlot for use with:
- (i) a feedlot vehicle equipped with a global positioning (GPS) receiver coupled to an RF transmitter, and (ii) a central database coupled to an RF receiver, the central database including information on a location of at least one object on the animal feedlot;
the method comprising the steps of;(a) the GPS receiver acquiring geographical coordinates representative of a current position of the feedlot vehicle;
(b) the RF transmitter transmitting the acquired geographical coordinates to the RF receiver;
(c) the RF receiver receiving the acquired geographical coordinates and downloading the geographical coordinates to the central database; and
(d) the central database determining the current position of the feedlot vehicle relative to the at least one object on the animal feedlot. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
providing said central database with information on bunk location, bunk orientation, and bunk length; and
controlling said feedlot vehicle to move substantially parallel to one of said bunks and load said bunk with feed from said vehicle.
- (i) a feedlot vehicle equipped with a global positioning (GPS) receiver coupled to an RF transmitter, and (ii) a central database coupled to an RF receiver, the central database including information on a location of at least one object on the animal feedlot;
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12. The method of claim 11 wherein said controlling step is executed by remote control.
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13. An animal feedlot management system for installation in an animal feedlot, comprising:
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(a) at least one feedlot vehicle equipped with a mobile GPS receiver for acquiring vehicle information regarding at least one of the position and orientation of the vehicle;
(b) an updatable database for maintaining information representative of said feedlot and at least one of objects and animals contained in said feedlot; and
(c) a transmission mechanism, coupled to the mobile GPS receiver, for transmitting vehicle information to the updatable database. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification