Livestock Confinement Pen

Abstract

A free-standing plastic livestock confinement system includes hollow plastic panels assembled together to provide interconnected walls that create confinement areas. One of the walls provides a door opening and a door that can be closed across the opening. The door is a hollow plastic panel with an opening for an animal to place its head through for access to food. The door is molded with a bucket holder and the opening in the door over the bucket holder. The bucket holder is recessed such that a bucket received in the bucket holder will extend partially into the confinement area.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A free-standing plastic livestock confinement system, comprising a plurality of hollow plastic panels assembled together to provide interconnected walls that create confinement areas of the system, at least one of the walls providing a door opening and a door that can be closed across the opening, the door being a hollow plastic panel with an opening for an animal to place its head through for access to food, wherein the door is molded with at least one bucket holder with the opening in the door over the bucket holder and wherein the at least one bucket holder is recessed such that a bucket received therein will extend at least partially into the confinement area. 
     
     
         2 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the bucket holders projects in a door closing direction. 
     
     
         3 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 1 , wherein each bucket is fixable within a respective one of the bucket holders using a ring-shaped frame. 
     
     
         4 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 1 , wherein the door is molded with a plurality of the bucket holders and wherein each bucket holder is recessed such that a respective bucket will extend at least partially into the confinement area. 
     
     
         5 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one bucket holder is recessed such that a center of a respective bucket is substantially aligned with a plane within which the door lies. 
     
     
         6 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 5 , wherein the door pivots about a vertical hinge and the plane within which the door lies intersects the vertical hinge. 
     
     
         7 . A free-standing plastic livestock confinement system, comprising:
 a pen defining a door opening;   a door movably mounted to the pen to selectively cover the door opening, wherein when the door is moved to a closed position the door and the pen define a confinement area bounded by the pen and the door;   a holder defined by the door that projects into the confinement area when the door is in the closed position and is configured to support a bucket when the bucket is positioned on the holder; and   an opening defined by the door positioned adjacent to and above the holder to allow access to the bucket from within the confinement area.   
     
     
         8 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 7  wherein the holder includes a horizontal lower portion that abuts a vertical arcuate portion. 
     
     
         9 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 8  wherein the opening narrows in a direction from an upper edge to a lower edge that abuts the vertical arcuate portion of the holder. 
     
     
         10 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 7  wherein:
 the door defines a vertical plane between an interior surface and an exterior surface of the door; and 
 a majority of the holder is defined to project beyond the vertical plane in a direction from the exterior surface to the interior surface. 
 
     
     
         11 . The free-standing plastic livestock confinement system of  claim 7  wherein the door is moveably mounted to the pen by pen knuckles defined by the pen along the door opening that interdigitate with door knuckles defined by the door along a vertical end of the door. 
     
     
         12 . A free-standing plastic livestock confinement system, comprising:
 a pen including a front panel defining a door opening and pen knuckles;   a door defining door knuckles that interdigitate with the pen knuckles to provide selective pivotal movement of the door to a closed position at which the door covers the door opening, wherein the door defines a central vertical plane;   a holder defined by the door that projects in a direction away from the central vertical plane, wherein the holder defines a horizontal surface and a vertical surface that are adapted to support and engage respective bottom and side surfaces of a bucket inserted into and supported by the holder; and   an opening defined by the door adjacent to and above the vertical surface of the holder to allow access to the bucket through the door.   
     
     
         13 . The free-standing livestock confinement system of  claim 12  wherein when the bucket is supported by the holder, an approximate center of the bucket is located on the central vertical plane of the door. 
     
     
         14 . The free-standing livestock confinement system of  claim 13  wherein the vertical surface of the holder is an arcuate semicylindrical shape. 
     
     
         15 . The free-standing livestock confinement system of  claim 14  wherein the horizontal surface of the holder is a semicircular shape.