Abstract: A tank filled with water and appropriate to receive such aquatic organisms, comprises a support bottom (1) under the water surface, presenting on the fresh water side in circulation, shelter holes shaped as pipes (3), wherein the aquatic organisms lives according to their natural way of life. Such shelters (3), adapted to the way of life of eels, have their upper opening (5) orientated in the fresh water stream (13) and extend inclined downwardly. To the contrary, for the breving of crustacea, those aquatic shelters extend horizontally from the fresh water compartment. A water stream (15) passes through such aquatic shelters between the fresh water compartment and the residual water compartment (25); said water stream entrains from the pipes (3) towards the residual water compartment excrements, food remains and other waste.

Abstract: A canine cervical jacket is disclosed comprising a fabric cover adapted to be mounted over the dog's back with a pair of openings for receiving the animal's legs. A removable, foam plastic body is disposed in the jacket and has a sufficient stiffness to prevent the dog from bending around to bite his hind quarters.The jacket is useful either as a alternative to surgery, or as a post surgical aid.The jacket has sleeves for receiving several elongated stiffener members along the dog's spine that prevent or restrict the dog from moving his head with respect to his body, but permit him to bend at the thoracic and lumbar area for feeding and the like.

Abstract: A feed dispenser may be attached to an existing feed supply conduit to utilize existing space. The dispenser comprises a bracket housing collar mounted about a conduit opening and a dispenser outlet which is adjustable by means of a sliding sleeve to gauge the correct amount of feed in the pan or feed lid. A pan beneath the outlet receives the feed and is controlled by the feed in the pan backing up into the outlet.

Abstract: A hay feeder is described for installation in the corner of a box stall or the like including a pair of vertically disposed transversely extending back wall portions secured to the sides or walls of the box stall. An arcuate front wall portion extends between the back wall portions to define a hay storage compartment having an open upper end. The front wall portion has spaced-apart access openings formed therein to permit an animal to feed therethrough. The access openings have a vertical height substantially less than the vertical height of the front wall portions. The hay feeder is comprised of a thermoplastic material such as polyethylene and is provided with strengthening ribs on the front wall portion.

Abstract: A disposable toilet for cats and small animals comprising a litter box and a disposable container removably located in the litter box, the container holds an absorption material on the bottom and a drain seated on the absorbing material. Litter material is contained in the drain portion of the container.

Abstract: A method for directly measuring the quantity of milk obtained from a cow being milked by a mechanical milking apparatus, including vacuum separating milk from a milk-air mixture from a cow, continuously freely feeding the separated milk to a measuring chamber, sensing the level of the milk to the measuring chamber at a first level from the bottom thereof, discharging the milk from the measuring chamber through a valved outlet by opening same when the level of the milk in the measuring chamber reaches said first level and determining the quantity (Q) of milk from partial volumes during a plurality of measurement intervals (b.sub.i) during the flow of milk into and out of the measuring chamber. The improvement comprises sensing the level of the milk in the measuring chamber at a second level below said first level, measuring the time (c.sub.

Abstract: To measure the milk yield of a cow, milk is passed continuously from the milking machine into an upper chamber of a meter while releasing air from the milk; and when the milk rises to a certain high level in the upper chamber, a valve opens to effect gravity flow of milk at a predetermined rate Q from the upper to a lower chamber until the milk descends to a certain low level in the upper chamber, whereupon the valve is closed until the milk again rises to the high level. These steps are repeated until the milk flow from the cow substantially ceases, whereupon the valve opens to effect gravity flow of the milk for the last time to said low level. The total time t occupied by said gravity flows is measured, as is the amount W of milk required to fill the upper chamber to said low level; and the milk yield is calculated by adding the values Qt and W.

Abstract: The invention is an apparatus for the controlled feeding of animals in a cage. A cover-mounted rack is adapted to be supported on the side walls of the cage. The cover-mounted rack includes a horizontal portion and a well portion with a fodder access part therein. A base plate is mounted on the aforesaid horizontal portion and has means defining a first axis. A tiltable frame member is pivotably associated with the base member for movement from a first position to a second position about the first axis. A fodder container means having means therein for the passage of fodder therethrough operably associated with said tiltable frame member. In the first position, the fodder container means for the passage of fodder therethrough, cooperates with the well access port wherein the fodder is presented to the animal for feeding. In the second position, the fodder container means is removed from the well and access by the animal to the food is prevented.

Abstract: K.sup.+, Mg.sup.2+, and SO.sub.4.sup.2- were important components eliciting oviposition by Trichogramma pretiosum Riley in aqueous solutions in artificial wax eggs. Ca.sup.2+ inhibited oviposition in a KCl-MgSO.sub.4 solution. The solutions most active in stimulating oviposition were 124.7-36.5 and 83.1-24.3 mM, respectively, of KCl-MgSO.sub.4.

Abstract: A teat cup for a milking machine is provided with a liner (3) arranged within the teat cup and with connections (4, 5) for pulsating vacuum and milk transport vacuum. The teat cup has also a valve means in its lower part, which valve means is arranged to open and close a connection between the inner of the teat cup and the milk flow line.The valve means is arranged such that when the valve body is in the position where the connection is open, the through flow for the milk is unobstructed.

Abstract: The valve comprises a housing connected to the outlet of a teat cup assembly. The housing includes a nipple formed in the bottom portion thereof for connection to a milk suction line. A ball member is mounted inside the valve housing and adapted to seat at the opening from the housing into the nipple when the interior of the housing is exposed to atmospheric pressure. The valve further includes a plunger slidably mounted in the wall of the valve housing, and the plunger is adapted to slide inwardly into the valve housing when the pressure in the housing falls below atmospheric pressure. The inward movement of the plunger is adapted to dislodge the ball member from its seated position at the nipple opening. The plunger member has an elastomeric washer mounted thereon which seals against the housing when the plunger slides inwardly. The washer has a locking ear thereon which engages a projection on the housing to lock the plunger in its retracted position during cleaning.

Abstract: A plurality of animals, especially swines or hogs, which are able to move freely in the same enclosure, are fed by means of an apparatus supplying fodder at a low rate to a number of separate feeding places (11) corresponding to the number of animals in the enclosure. These feeding places may be formed by a trough (10) in which the respective feeding places are defined by partition walls (12). The bottom of the trough is separated into a supply section (15) and an eating section (16). In order to satisfy the root instinct of the animals and thereby make it possible to reduce the fodder supply rate to the respective feeding places without causing the animals to become impatient so that they tend to change feeding place, the fodder is at least partly supplied to the supply section (15) which is shaped and/or arranged so that it is uncomfortable for the animals to eat the fodder directly from the supply section but more comfortable to root the fodder to the eating section (16) before eating it.

Abstract: Apparatus for sorting living eggs from a mixture of live eggs and dead eggs during the process of artificial incubation of salmon, trout, and the like, in which fish eggs fed with water onto a rotary disc are moved radially outwardly to form a row of eggs along a guide plate at the outer periphery of the rotary disc by centrifugal force. A photocell sensor projects light on the row of eggs to detect reflected light to differentiate between the dead eggs and the live eggs, and high speed injection of air moves the dead eggs detected by the sensor to a different radial position on the rotary disc for separating them from the live eggs. Subsequently, the live eggs flow from the end of the guide plate through a good egg acceptance port into a good egg hopper and the dead eggs separated by high speed air flow through a bad egg acceptance port into a different hopper.

Abstract: This invention pertains to a fish conservation system for large water intake facilities, the system having one or more operating module. Each module includes a barrier screen or set of barrier screens and fish bypassing conduits located adjacent to the barrier screens. A reciprocating fish-herding screen or set of such reciprocating screens herds fish into the bypassing conduits and away from the barrier screens, against which the fish would otherwise be drawn and killed.

Abstract: An aquarium tank has positioned internally on its bottom a combined aerating and purifying cartridge containing suitable filtering media. An air supply is introduced in a dual direction to the interior of the cartridge creating an even circulating flow up a centrally fitted hollow stack positioned on the upper section of the cartridge and thereby creating a suction on the interior of the cartridge. This causes water in the aquarium to flow downward to the cartridge, carrying particles of impurities with it and then the flow is circulated through the inlet holes in the cartridge and thereafter through the filter media contained within it where the impurities are removed. The cartridge is readily removed through the top of the tank without disturbing a gravel bed in which it is positioned. The cartridge is surrounded by a perforated cylindrical retaining wall held in position by the surrounding gravel bed.

Abstract: The disclosure describes a chamber for use in immunizing chickens or the like fowls by treating them with a vaccine which is sprayed in the chamber. Inside an enclosure where the chickens are loaded, there is created a continuous flow of air into which is sprayed a vaccine. A deflector cone is used to make sure that the vaccine-loaded flow of air circulates uniformly throughout the enclosure. Furthermore, the pressure inside the enclosure is maintained negative, i.e. it is at a lower level than the outside atmosphere, to make sure that viral particles do not leak outside the vaccination chamber. Finally, means are provided for flushing the chamber and a system such as a filter or/and an incinerator or the like is used to prevent the escape of viral particles to the outside atmosphere. Vaccination with this chamber is safe, economical and does not pollute the environment.

Abstract: Multi-tiered cage assemblies are paired in spaced end-to-end relationship within a brood house. The floors of the cage assemblies are sequentially movable between the paired assemblies. During an initial sequence of such movement, newborn chicks are placed on the floors as they pass through the space separating the cage assemblies, and continued floor movement carries the chicks into the cage assemblies. The tiers are vertically spaced from one another by a distance limited to that sufficient to provide headroom for a chick approximately three weeks of age. During the period the chicks are maintained in the cage assemblies, feed and water are continuously supplied to the chicks. When the floors are sequentially returned to the cage assemblies from which they previously had been moved, the chicks are dropped onto conveying means which carry the chicks to a motor vehicle for transport to a finishing house where grow-out is completed.

Abstract: An animal feeding apparatus includes a bunk, or trough for receiving solid feed and water and animal actuated hopper means disposed over the trough. The water dispensing function is provided by a plurality of valves having operators to be actuated, preferably, by the snout of an animal and which are configured and disposed to inhibit actuation by the animal at such times as the level of liquid in the bunk exceeds a predetermined depth. The feed dispensing function is provided by the simultaneous actuation of an elongated agitator, disposed on one side wall of the hopper and in a dispensing slot in the bottom of the hopper, and a grate, disposed above the agitator and adjacent the slot and the opposite side wall of the hopper, by an agitator arm connected to the agitator and the grate, and extending downwardly into the bunk for actuation by an animal. The agitator and the grate are pivotable about a common axis to provide different radii of oscillation.

Abstract: A rearing unit, suitable for piglets, has a heated nest box with openable roof, a pen in communication with the nest box having a perforated floor, a liquid feeding device in the pen having one or more artificial nipples and a solids feed device.The nest box temperature may be thermostatically controlled by a sensor below a perforated floor of the nest box.The unit may be constructed from a slotted framework and boards, the boards being sealed in the slots by an adhesive or inert water-repellant sealant.The unit may house very young piglets up to a weight of from 5 to 8 kg. At that weight, they may then be transferred to a similar unit with a larger nest box until they weigh from 10 to 15 kg.

Abstract: Cattle stanchion apparatus in which a plurality of fixed and release stanchions define a row of head openings for animals, the release stanchions tending to pivot to open positions. Latches at the upper extremities of the release stanchions are engageable by couplers carried by a rotatable and axially movable positioner. An operating mechanism is actuable to axially move the positioner, and a locking system is actuable to rotate the positioner and thereby move the couplers into and out of a path of engagement with the latches of the release stanchions. The arrangement gives the operator the capability of moving all of the release stanchions to closed positions to lock the animals in the feeding stalls, or allowing the animals individually to actuate the system to lock themselves in, or allowing the animals to enter and leave the stalls as they wish. The locking system can be placed in a locked position to disable the operating mechanism.