Abstract: A rotary milking platform (3) comprises a plurality of stalls (5) and an RFID animal identifying system (9) for identifying animals entering the stalls (5) of the platform (3). A microprocessor (14) reads signals from an image capturing device (15) and computes a feature vector from the captured image of each animal. A plurality of reference feature vectors comprising respective matrices of metrics already derived from images of the respective animals captured by the image capturing device (15) are stored and cross-referenced with the identity of the respective animals. The microprocessor (14) compares computed feature vectors of each animal with the stored reference feature vectors until a best match has been determined with one of the reference feature vectors. The identity of the animal of that matching reference feature vector is then determined as the identity of the animal of that computed feature vector.

Abstract: A rotary milking platform (3) comprises a plurality of stalls (5) and an RFID animal identifying system (9) for identifying animals entering the stalls (5) of the platform (3). A microprocessor (14) reads signals from an image capturing device (15) and computes a feature vector from the captured image of each animal. A plurality of reference feature vectors comprising respective matrices of metrics already derived from images of the respective animals captured by the image capturing device (15) are stored and cross-referenced with the identity of the respective animals. The microprocessor (14) compares computed feature vectors of each animal with the stored reference feature vectors until a best match has been determined with one of the reference feature vectors. The identity of the animal of that matching reference feature vector is then determined as the identity of the animal of that computed feature vector.

Abstract: A dispenser (5) for dispensing discrete predefined quantities of animal feed to animals comprises first and second primary containers (28a, 28b) for ingredients of the animal feed. Primary metering augers (34) are provided in each primary container (28) for metering predefined quantities of the ingredients to produce a discrete predefined quantity of animal feed for dispensing to an animal. A radio frequency identity detector (82) located in the dispenser (5) identifies the identity of an approaching animal, and a microprocessor (48) in the dispenser (5) operates the primary metering augers (34) for metering out appropriate quantities of the ingredients in the first and second primary containers (28a, 28b) to produce a specific discrete predefined quantity of the animal feed for consumption by the animal. The discrete predefined quantity of the animal feed is presented to the animal in a dish-shaped base (22) of the dispenser (5).