Swine activated feeder with actuation sensor

Abstract

A sensor assembly on a swine-activated self-feeder allows monitoring or tracking of individual animal feeding activity, thereby allowing corrective action to be taken in instances of under-feeding or over-feeding by an animal. The sensor assembly includes a sensor on the feed dispenser and, with a printed circuit board to generate a signal corresponding to activation of the dispenser by an animal. The signal can be sent to a computer or website which generates reports on the individual animal's feeding activity.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A swine-activated self-feeder, comprising:
 a feed tube having a lower end;   a rotatable dispenser in the lower end of the feed tube to discharge feed from the tube when the dispenser is rotated by the swine;   a sensor associated with the dispenser to sense rotation of the dispenser so as to monitor feeding activity of the swine.   
     
     
         2 . The self-feeder of  claim 1  wherein the sensor includes a magnet on the dispenser and a counter on the feed tube. 
     
     
         3 . The self-feeder of  claim 1  further comprising a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted on the feed tube to gather dispenser rotation data. 
     
     
         4 . The self-feeder of  claim 3  further comprising a storage device operatively connected to the PCB to receive data from the PCB. 
     
     
         5 . The self-feeder of  claim 1  wherein the sensor is a Hall effect sensor. 
     
     
         6 . The self-feeder of  claim 1  further comprising an animal identification device to identify individual animals. 
     
     
         7 . A method of tracking feeding activity of swine, comprising:
 providing feed on demand from a self-feeder wherein the swing actuates discharge of feed from the self-feeder;   sensing swine actuation of the self-feeder;   generating data corresponding to the sensed swine actuation of the feeder; and   evaluating the data to track the swine feeding activity.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the self-feeder is actuated by the swine rotating a dispenser in a lower end of the feed tube. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the dispenser includes a magnet for sensing by a sensor to count rotations of the dispenser. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the data includes time of day of actuation. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the data includes frequency of actuation. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the sensing step utilizes a Hall effect sensor. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising identifying the swine with an RFID tag. 
     
     
         14 . An animal feeder, comprising:
 a food receptacle;   a feed supply line with an outlet to direct feed into the receptacle;   a dispenser in the outlet of the feed supply line;   the dispenser being movable by an animal to discharge feed from the feed supply line into the food receptacle; and   a sensor operatively connected to the dispenser to sense movement of the dispenser and generate a signal in response to the movement.   
     
     
         15 . The animal feeder of  claim 14  wherein the dispenser is rotatably mounted adjacent the outlet of the feed supply line. 
     
     
         16 . The animal feeder of  claim 14  wherein the signal represents feeding activity of the animal and the volume of feed dispensed. 
     
     
         17 . The animal feeder of  claim 14  further comprising a microprocessor to receive and store the signals from the sensor. 
     
     
         18 . The animal feeder of  claim 17  further comprising an identification device to identify each animal who uses the feeder. 
     
     
         19 . The animal feeder of  claim 18  wherein the identification device is an RFID tag on the animal. 
     
     
         20 . The animal feeder of  claim 18  wherein the identification device is a facial or body recognition camera. 
     
     
         21 . The animal feeder of  claim 14  wherein the sensor is a Hall effect sensor. 
     
     
         22 . The animal feeder of  claim 14  further comprising a PCB operatively connected to the sensor.