US-12616157-B2 - Milking system and methods with pre- and post-dip in the teat liner

US12616157B2US 12616157 B2US12616157 B2US 12616157B2US-12616157-B2

Abstract

Milking diary animals involves manually attaching a milking cluster to the dairy animals teats. While the dairy animal's teats are in the liners of the teat cups, pre-dip, milking, and post-dip processes are performed. The milking cluster then detaches from the dairy animal's teats. The system can be implemented in a parallel line, rotary, or herringbone parlor configuration.

Inventors

Matthew J. Stuessel
Jeffrey S. Hanson

Assignees

GEA FARM TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220830

Claims (14)

1 . A dairy animal milking system, comprising: a good milk container; a bad milk container; a pre-dip storage container; a post-dip storage container; and a milking stall configured to accommodate a dairy animal for milking, the milking stall comprising a milking cluster comprising a plurality of teat cups, a liner arranged at least partially in each of the plurality of teat cups, and a pulsation chamber arranged between each of the plurality of teat cups and the liner at least partially arranged therein; a support affixed to one of the sides of the milking stall and configured for detachment of the milking cluster from the one of the sides of the milking stall; a first fluid line fluidically coupling, via at least one first valve, an interior of each of the plurality of liners to the pre-dip storage container and fluidically coupling, via at least one second valve, the interior of each of the plurality of liners to the post-dip storage container; a second fluid line fluidically coupling, via at least one third valve, a downstream end of each of the plurality of liners with the good milk container and fluidically coupling, via at least one fourth valve, the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners with the bad milk container; a pulsator fluidically coupled with the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups and the liners arranged at least partially therein; a switch; and a processor coupled to the at least one first valve, the at least one second valve, the at least one third valve, the at least one fourth valve, the pulsator, and the switch, wherein, responsive to activation of the switch, the processor is configured to control the at least one first valve to fluidically couple the pre-dip storage container with an interior of each of the plurality liners and control the at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple the bad milk container with the downstream end of each of the plurality liners; control the pulsator to apply a first pulsation rate to the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups the liners arranged at least partially therein while the pre-dip is being supplied; control the at least one first valve to isolate the pre-dip storage container from the interior of each of the plurality of liners; change, after isolating the pre-dip storage container, a pulsation rate of the pulsator of pulses applied to the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups and the liners to a pulsation ratio with an increased percentage of closing time of the teat cups; control a water valve to open to supply water to lines coupling the liners to a manifold of the milking cluster and then control the water valve to close; control an air valve to open to supply air to the lines coupling the liners to the manifold of the milking cluster and then control the air valve to close; control at least one third valve to fluidically couple the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners with the good milk container; control, after the pulsator changes the pulsation rate of the pulsator to the pulsation ratio with an increased percentage of closing time of the teat cups and while the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners is fluidically coupled with the good milk container, the pulsator to apply a second pulsation rate to the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups the liners arranged at least partially therein; and control the at least one second valve to fluidically couple the post-dip storage container with the interior of each of the plurality of liners, control the at least one third valve to fluidically isolate the good milk container from the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners, and control the at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple the bad milk container to the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners.
2 . The milking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first valve and at least one second valve are arranged on a first panel, the at least one third valve and at least one fourth valve are arranged on a second panel, and the first and second panels are separate panels in the system.
3 . The milking system of claim 2 , wherein the milking stall is arranged on a rotary platform, the first panel is arranged in a housing on the rotary platform, and the second panel is arranged below the rotary platform.
4 . The milking system of claim 2 , wherein the milking stall is arranged on a rotary platform, and the first and second panels are arranged in a subway below the rotary platform and on an inner side of the rotary platform.
5 . The milking system of claim 2 , wherein the milking stall is arranged on a line platform with other milking stalls, the first panel is arranged behind an upper housing above the line platform, and the second panel is arranged below the line platform.
6 . The milking system of claim 2 , wherein the milking stall is arranged in a herringbone pattern with other milking stalls on a platform, the first panel is arranged behind an upper housing above the platform, and the second panel is arranged below the platform.
7 . The milking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one third valve includes a good milk valve and the at least one fourth valve includes a bad milk valve, wherein the processor is further configured to: control the bad milk valve into an open position and the good milk valve into a closed position until a predetermined time after the air valve is closed and then control the bad milk valve into a closed position and the good milk valve into a closed position.
8 . The milking system of claim 1 , wherein prior to controlling the at least one second valve to fluidically couple the post-dip storage container with the interior of each of the plurality of liners and to controlling the at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple the bad milk container to the downstream end of the liners, the processor is configured to: control the pulsator to stop applying pulses to the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups the liners to fluidically isolate the liners from the milking system; control an air valve to open to supply air to lines coupling the liners to a manifold of the milking cluster; and control the at least one third valve to fluidically isolate the good milk container from the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners and to fluidically couple the bad milk container to the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners.
9 . The milking system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one third valve includes a good milk valve coupling the downstream end of the liners to good milk container and the at least one fourth valve is a bad milk valve coupling the downstream end of the liners to the bad milk container.
10 . The milking system of claim 1 , wherein the milking stall does not include a robotic arm coupled to the milking cluster to affix teats of the dairy animal in the liners.
11 . A method for milking a dairy animal, the method comprising: manually attaching a milking cluster of a milking system to the dairy animal by manually inserting each of a plurality of teats of the dairy animal into a corresponding one of a plurality of teat cups, wherein each of the plurality of teat cups includes a corresponding liner at least partially disposed within the teat cup; activating a milking of the dairy animal with the manually attached milking cluster, wherein the milking of the dairy animal comprises controlling at least one first valve to fluidically couple a pre-dip storage container with an interior of each of the plurality of liners via a first fluid line and controlling at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple a bad milk container with the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners; performing a pre-dip application on each of the plurality of teats by supplying pre-dip to the interior of each of the plurality liners; operating a pulsator at a first pulsation rate to a pulsation chamber arranged between each of the teat cups and each of the corresponding liners and directing the pre-dip to a waste milk line; controlling the at least one first valve to isolate the pre-dip storage container from the interior of each of the plurality of liners; changing, by the pulsator and after isolating the pre-dip storage container, a pulsation ratio of pulses applied to the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups to a pulsation ratio with an increased percentage of closing time of the teat cups; controlling a water valve to open to supply water to lines coupling the liners to a manifold of the milking cluster and then control the water valve to close; controlling an air valve to open to supply air to the lines coupling the liners to the manifold of the milking cluster and then control the air valve to close; controlling at least one third valve to fluidically couple the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners with a good milk container; operating, after the pulsator stops applying the pulses and while the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners is fluidically coupled with the good milk container, the pulsator at a second pulsation rate to the pulsation chamber to draw milk from each of the plurality of teats; controlling at least one second valve to fluidically couple a post-dip storage container with the interior of each of the plurality of liners via the first fluid line, controlling the at least one third valve to fluidically isolate the good milk container from the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners, and controlling the at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple the bad milk container to the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners; and performing, after drawing milk from each of the plurality of teats, a post-dip application on each of the plurality of teats by supplying post-dip to the interior of each of the plurality liners; and detaching the milking cluster by removing each of the plurality of teats from the corresponding one of the plurality of teat cups.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one third valve includes a good milk valve and the at least one fourth valve includes a bad milk valve, the method further comprising: opening the bad milk valve and closing the good milk valve until a predetermined time after the air valve is closed and then closing the bad milk valve and opening the good milk valve.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein prior to controlling the at least one second valve to fluidically couple the post-dip storage container with the interior of each of the plurality of liners and to controlling the at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple the bad milk container to the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners, the method further comprising: stopping the pulsator from applying pulses to the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups and the liners to fluidically isolate the liners from the milking system; opening an air valve to supply air to lines coupling the liners to the manifold of the milking cluster; and controlling the at least one third valve to fluidically isolate the good milk container from the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners and controlling the at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple the bad milk container to the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the activating of the milking is responsive to actuation of a switch, which is actuated prior to the manual attachment of the milking cluster.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/239,214, filed on Aug. 31, 2021, the entire content of which is herein expressly incorporated by reference. BACKGROUND Commercial systems for milking dairy animals are generally divided between manual milking systems and automated milking systems. Automated milking systems, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,763,421, automatically attach the milking cluster to the teats of the dairy animal, automatically apply pre-dip to the teats, automatically milk the dairy animal, automatically apply post-dip to the teats of the dairy animal, and automatically detach the milking cluster from the teats of the diary animal. In contrast, manual milking systems require manually applying pre-dip to the teats, manually attaching the milking cluster to the teats, and then manually applying post-dip to the teats after milking. Automated milking systems are significantly more expensive than manual milking systems due to the additional equipment required for the automated operation, including a robotic arm for moving the milking cluster to and from the teats (and attaching to and detaching from the teats) and sensors and a processor for identifying the position of each of the teats so that the teat cups can be automatically attached to each of the teats. In many cases automated milking systems are able to perform the milking process, including the pre- and post-dip application, quicker than a manual milking system. Thus, the higher up-front costs are considered to be offset by the more efficient milking process. Manual milking parlors typically have milking stalls arranged in a line (or two parallel lines, i.e., a parallel line parlor), in a herringbone pattern (i.e., a herringbone parlor), or in a circle (i.e., rotatory parlors). The space in each milking stall in these configurations is typically dimensioned to provide minimal lateral space between the dairy animal and the separators between adjacent stalls. The stalls in manual milking parlors accordingly do not have the necessary space to allow retrofitting the stalls for an automated milking system. Thus, installing an automated milking system requires reconfiguration of the milking parlor, which further increases the up-front costs of deploying an automated milking system. It would be desirable to increase the efficiency of manual milking parlors without requiring that the milking stalls be reconfigured and without the high costs of the additional equipment required for automatic attachment and detachment of the milking clusters to and from the teats of the dairy animals. SUMMARY According to embodiments, there is a dairy animal milking system, which includes a good milk container, a bad milk container, a pre-dip storage container, a post-dip storage container a milking stall configured to accommodate a dairy animal for milking. The milking stall includes a milking cluster comprising a plurality of teat cups, a liner arranged at least partially in each of the plurality of teat cups, and a pulsation chamber arranged between each of the plurality of teat cups and the liner at least partially arranged therein. A support is affixed to one of the sides of the milking stall and configured for detachment of the milking cluster from the one of the sides of the milking stall. A first fluid line fluidically couples, via at least one first valve, an interior of each of the plurality of liners to the pre-dip storage container and fluidically couples, via at least one second valve 119, the interior of each of the plurality of liners to the post-dip storage container. A second fluid line fluidically couples, via at least one third valve, a downstream end of each of the plurality of liners with the good milk container and fluidically couples, via at least one fourth valve, the downstream end of each of the plurality of liners with the bad milk container. A pulsator is fluidically coupled with the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups the liners arranged at least partially therein. The milking stall also includes a switch and a processor coupled to the at least one first valve, the at least one second valve, the at least one third valve, the at least one fourth valve, the pulsator, and the switch. Responsive to activation of the switch the processor is configured to control the at least one first valve to fluidically couple the pre-dip storage container with an interior of each of the plurality liners and control the at least one fourth valve to fluidically couple the bad milk container with the downstream end of each of the plurality liners. The processor is also configured to control the pulsator to apply a first pulsation rate to the pulsation chamber between each of the plurality of teat cups the liners arranged at least partially therein while the pre-dip is being supplied. The processor is further configured to control