Patent ID: 6352052
Filing Date: 2002-03-05
Classification: A01K

Abstract:
In cattle stanchion apparatus including fixed and release stanchions laterally spaced apart to define a head opening for a cow and fixed structure including mounting means supporting said release stanchions for pivotal movement from an open cow-release position in which the upper part of said head opening is enlarged to enable a cow to place or remove her head through said opening, to a closed, locked-in position in which said upper part of said head opening is narrowed to hold the cow's head in said opening, and beyond said closed, locked-in position to a downed-cow position in which said upper part of said opening is enlarged to enable the head of a downed cow to be withdrawn; the improvement comprising:a bracket secured to the upper end of each release stanchion; a pair of latch fingers pivotally supported at their upper ends to each bracket to normally hang downwardly; a pair of stops on each bracket adjacent each lower end of the latch fingers to restrain such latch fingers against movement towards one another; a horizontally extending positioner rod rotatably supported by the fixed structure above the brackets; a plurality of locking pegs carried by the positioner rod to be rotated by the positioner rod between said open cow-release position wherein the pegs are out of the path of the latch fingers, and said closed, locked-in position wherein the pegs extend between the latch fingers to restrain pivotal movement of the release stanchions; and whereby when the latch fingers are in their open position each release stanchion will tend to pivot to either its open position or to its downed cow position, with one of the latch fingers of a release stanchion being selectively manually pivotable away from its stop to free such release stanchion for pivotal movement to its downed-cow position even when the locking pegs are disposed in their locked-in position.