LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SPLIT-WEIGHT FEEDING

摘要

A livestock management system is provided that sorts animals for split-weightfeeding based on a calculated median weight of a herd. The system includes apen area (10) partitioned into a first feeding area (16) containing at least afirst feeder (12), a second feeding area (17) containing at least a secondfeeder (13), and a common watering area (18) containing at least one waterer(11). First and second one-way gates (23, 25) are respectively providedbetween the feeding areas and the watering area allowing animals to pass fromthe feeding areas into the watering area. A walk-through scale (27) has aninlet (28) open to the watering area, and first and second outlets (29, 30)open to the first and second feeding areas, respectively. The walk-throughscale has a sort gate (31) for selectively directing animals into the firstand second feeding areas based on a comparison of a detected weight of theanimal and a calculated median weight of the herd.