Floating calf feeder for feeding calves

A calf feeder device adapted to float in a pail or the like of cow's milk, liquid feed, milk supplement or milk replacer. The calf feeder floats partially submerged in the milk with the nipple projecting generally upwardly and continuously filled with milk. Accordingly, a calf confronting such pail of feed may select between sucking the nipple or drinking the milk alongside the nipple and above the partially submerged floating calf feeder. Through the use of the floating calf feeder, a calf may be fed liquid feed supplement a short time after birth and after ingesting sufficient colostrum which is contained in its mother's milk through the natural process of sucking its mother's nipple or teat. The calf feeder includes a float ring, a nipple member detachably secured to such float ring and projecting upwardly therefrom and a valve means detachably secured to said float ring and interposed between said nipple and milk contained in a pail, said valve means in fluid communication with said nipple and said milk whereby said nipple is continuously filled with milk after a calf begins to suck thereupon. Accordingly, in a commercial setting, a calf may be switched from feeding on its mother to feeding on a liquid feed supplement by allowing the calf to suck the upwardly projecting nipple and then, more conveniently, the calf may abandon the upwardly projecting nipple and drink directly the milk which the calf confronts during the sucking process. This allows the calf's mother to return to the commercial production of milk while the calf enjoys controlled and balanced nutrition.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to the art of calf feeding or weaning devices and 
the like and, in particular, relates to a floating calf feeder adapted to 
float partially submerged in a pail of cow's milk, liquid feed, milk 
supplement or a milk replacer. The floating calf feeder includes a float 
ring which floats partially submerged in a pail of milk with a nipple 
projecting upwardly therefrom. Valve means interposed between said nipple 
and milk in the pail causes said nipple to remain continuously filled with 
milk after the sucking process begins. Accordingly, a calf confronting a 
pail of milk in which said floating calf feeder is placed may select 
between sucking the nipple or drinking milk directly from the pool 
adjacent to said nipple covering the partially submerged float ring. In 
this manner, a calf may suck in a natural manner until it realizes that 
directly drinking the milk alongside is a more effective means to receive 
nourishment. Accordingly, the calf is weaned from its mother in a cost 
effective manner, allowing its mother to return to commerical production 
of milk without detrimental effect on the health of its calf. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is a well known and universally experienced problem in the dairy and 
veal industries that a percentage of calves cannot make an easy transition 
from feeding off of their mother's teat to drinking from a pail. 
It is common practice in the veal and dairy industries to take the calf 
from the mother as soon as possible, generally just a few days after 
birth. The calf needs to feed on its mother's milk only long enough to 
ingest enough colostrum contained in its mother's milk to receive natural 
antibodies necessary to protect the calf from disease and other maladys. 
The primary reason to start calves on pail feeding is that the milk 
replacer that is used as feed is equally or more nutritious than the 
mother's milk and it is economically advantageous for the farmer to get 
his cows back into milk production as soon as possible rather than to use 
them only as a food source for their calves. 
The problem of what to do with the calves that will not drink directly from 
a pail has been around for a long time and many solutions have been tried. 
A common method is for the farmer to let the calf suck on his thumb and 
while the calf is sucking, to draw the calf's head down into the bucket so 
that the calf begins to get some milk from the pail. The farmer then 
withdraws his hand hoping the calf will begin to drink from the pail 
without the surrogate teat. In many cases, this procedure must be repeated 
until the calf learns to drink the liquid from the pail. This is not a 
practical method in a commercial operation. 
Many artificial teat devices are in use. One device is a special pail that 
has a nipple attached to the outside bottom of the pail. The pail is 
suspended level with the head of the calf and the calf drains the pail by 
sucking on the nipple. 
Another device is a solid nipple that attaches with a suction cup to the 
inside bottom of a pail. The solid nipple projects upwardly towards the 
top of the pail and serves as an object for the calf to suck on. The calf 
sucks on the nipple but receives no liquid feed due to the solid 
construction of the nipple. As the calf becomes frustrated with the nipple 
he may abandon it and drink directly from the pail. This device can become 
detached easily from the bottom of the pail and there is a risk of the 
calf sucking the nipple into its throat and choking. 
Another common method is a large, plastic bottle removably mounted in a 
frame that can be attached on the side of a calf stall or in front of a 
calf crate. The bottle has a gravity fed nipple on its open end, and is 
mounted with the nipple projecting downwardly. The calf sucks on the 
nipple and drains the contents of the bottle. This method has the 
limitation of only being able to provide a fixed volume of milk replacer. 
It is also necessary for air to replace the space in the bottle as the 
milk replacer is drained. 
Another known device is a nipple which floats, but which does not afford a 
choice of sucking or drinking to the calf being weaned and which device, 
further, floats in an unstable manner and does not allow full evacuation 
of the milk in the pail. 
With all of the attached nipple devices, calves are known to pull the 
nipples off, risking the calf sucking the nipple into its throat and 
choking. Gravity fed nipples often leak creating unsightly and unsanitary 
conditions. The components are difficult to clean. 
Much larger, automatic feeding systems are sometimes employed. These 
systems can feed hundreds of calves at a time through a system of feeding 
tubes running from a central tank. These systems have many mechanical 
parts, present tremendous cleaning problems and do not allow the farmer to 
know which calves are drinking and which are not. It should be pointed out 
that a calf which does not consume its ration is often suffering from a 
physical problem. 
It would thus be an improvement in the art to provide a floating calf 
feeder with an upwardly projecting nipple which is continuously filled 
with milk and which allows a calf to select between sucking the nipple or 
drinking milk alongside the nipple whereby the calf may be weaned from its 
mother in a cost effective manner and in a manner easy to monitor the 
feeding habits of the pertinent calf. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to this invention, there is provided a floating calf feeder which 
can be used with a pail containing milk or milk replacer to wean a calf 
from its mother's teat after the calf has received the natural antibodies 
necessary to protect the calf from diseases, thereby allowing the calf's 
mother to return to the production of milk in a commercial operation. The 
calf confronts the pail of milk with the floating calf feeder positioned 
therein, with the nipple projecting upwardly in a manner convenient for 
sucking. As the calf advances on the nipple, the calf confronts milk 
surrounding the nipple, convenient for direct drinking. 
The floating calf feeder comprises a nipple fabricated from natural rubber 
or the like, simulating a natural nipple or cow's teat. The nipple is 
detachably secured to a float ring, generally dish shaped and fabricated 
from plastic materials such as ABS or vinyl. A valve disk interposed 
between the milk and the nipple is detachably secured to the float ring 
and is fabricated from natural rubber or a similar resilient material 
utilizing a "flap" valve principle. A retaining cap having several 
positions secures said disk valve to the float ring and is typically 
fabricated of polyethylene plastic. The device is readily disassembled for 
cleaning and sterilization. 
It is an object of this invention to provide a floating calf feeder for 
feeding calves which provides the calf with a choice between sucking or 
direct drinking as a means of obtaining nutrients. 
Another object of this invention is to provide a floating calf feeder in 
which the nipple is continuously filled with milk after the sucking action 
starts so that the calf is not discouraged in the use of the artificial 
nipple. 
Still another object of the invention is to provide a floating calf feeder 
for feeding calves which may be readily disassembled for cleaning and 
sterilization, such parts being generally free from grooves, undercuts and 
recesses. 
Still another object of this invention is to provide a floating calf feeder 
for feeding calves which floats within a pail of milk and as the milk is 
either sucked through the floating calf feeder or directly drunk from 
around the floating calf feeder, the floating calf feeder descends with 
the liquid level in a manner that the pail may be emptied by the calf 
through either a sucking or drinking action. 
Still another object of this invention is to provide a floating calf feeder 
which may float within a pail of milk or milk replacer and maintain 
stability during the sucking or drinking action of the calf. 
Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent to those 
skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred 
embodiment of this invention showing a best mode of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawings, the floating calf feeder is shown generally as 
10. The floating calf feeder 10 includes an upwardly projecting nipple 11 
and float ring 12. The float ring 12 has a hollow outer ring section 13, 
essentially triangular in cross-section. A frusto conical cross plate 14 
extends across the inner diameter of the float ring 12. Cross plate 14, 
further, has a pair of cutouts 15 opposite disposed therein and a central 
horizontal mounting plate 15a with a central nipple hole 16. Cross plate 
further has a means such as a hole 16a to which a cord, chain, clip, or 
the like may be fastened. 
The bottom side of the mount 15a has an annular recess 17 extending 
outwardly from the nipple hole 16 and the lower seal surface 18. A 
plurality, preferably two retainer tabs 19 also extend downwardly from the 
cross plate 14. The float ring 12 may be formed from any suitable 
material, and is preferably made from ABS or Vinyl plastics. The float 
ring 12 may be formed using a suitable method such as blow molding, or 
injection molding in separate pieces that are later sealed together. 
The nipple 11 is generally cylindrical in shape having a closed second end 
and an open first end and is formed from an elastomeric material 
preferably natural rubber or equivalent. The nipple 11 has a thin wall 
portion 20 at its top and traversing downwardly, the wall thickness 
increases to thick wall portion 21 of the nipple 11. Near the first end of 
the nipple 11 there is an outwardly extending shoulder 22 abutting the 
lower surface of the cross member 14 surrounding the nipple 16. 
The first end of the nipple 11 terminates in a seal shoulder 23 extending 
outwardly over the lower surface of the cross member 14 surrounding the 
annular recess 17. The second end of the nipple 11 terminates in a 
hemispheric section having a feedhole 24 centrally located therein. 
A cup shaped retaining valve cap 25 covers the first end of the nipple 11 
and has outwardly extending ramped segments 26 cooperatively fitting under 
and retained by the retainer tabs 19. The ramped segments 26 each have a 
plurality, preferably four detented stops 26.1-26.4 formed on the ramped 
surface. The last most detent stop 26.4 is adjacent to twist stop 26.5 
limiting the attachment rotation of the retaining valve cap 25. The 
retainer valve cap 25 has a plurality, preferably four, downwardly 
extending bottom spacers 27. A plurality, preferably two, grip tabs 27a 
extend outwardly from the periphery of the retainer valve cap 25. An inlet 
orifice 28 is centrally located in the retainer valve cap 25 for passage 
of fluids therethrough. 
The valve disk 30 is a circular disk formed from an elastomeric material, 
preferably natural rubber or an equivalent synthetic. Valve disk 30 has a 
valve flap 31, hinged from the central portion and overlying the inlet 
orifice 28. The valve disk 30 is further interposed between the inner 
surface of the retainer valve cap 25 and the seal shoulder 23 on the first 
end of the nipple 11. 
In its use, the floating calf feeder 10 is placed in containers such as a 
milk pail 35, as illustrated in FIG. 5. Sufficient quanity of a liquid 
feed 36 such as milk or a milk replacement is placed in the milk pail 35. 
The floating calf feeder 10 floats, partially submerged, on the liquid 36 
presenting the upwardly extending nipple 11 to a calf 37, generally shown 
in dotted on FIG. 5, to suckle therefrom. The floating calf feeder 10, 
additionally is attached using a line or other suitable tethering means 
passing through the retainer hole 16a and therefrom attached to the pail 
35 or a stall so that if the feeding calf removes the floating calf feeder 
10 from the pail 35, the floating calf feeder 10 is retained in the 
feeding area. 
When the calf 37, feeds by sucking on the nipple 11, the fluid 36 is drawn 
past the valve disk flap 31, through the nipple 11 and from the feed hole 
24 and into the calve's mouth. As the calf continues to suck, the valve 
flap 31 of the valve disk is moved from its closed position to an open 
position, as illustrated in dotted 31a, allowing the liquid 36 to be drawn 
into the interior of the nipple 11 and thence, into the calf. As the 
liquid 36 is consumed by the calf, 37, the float ring, 12, descends in 
relation to the pail 35, thereby supplying the calf with a continuous 
supply of milk until the milk pail 35, is emptied completely. 
With consumption of the liquid 36, the floating calf feeder 10 will 
approach the bottom of the milk pail 35. As the last portions of the 
liquid 36 are being withdrawn from the nipple 11, the bottom spacers 27 
will contact the milk pail bottom 38 providing a space between the 
retainer valve cap 25 and the milk pail bottom 38, preventing a "seal" to 
occur between said milk pail bottom 38 and retaining cap 25 so that the 
liquid 36 may be drawn therethrough into the nipple 11. 
As the calf 37 continues to suckle on the nipple 11, it will advance on the 
nipple 11 thereby contacting its nose with the liquid feed 36 and become 
accustomed to the wet sensations. As the calf continues to feed, it will 
learn that it can consume the liquid 36 more efficiently by placing its 
mouth directly into the liquid 36 and drinking the liquid 36 surrounding 
the nipple 11 as illustrated in the solid outline 39 in FIG. 5. 
Should the calf 37 become overly aggressive sucking and pulling on the 
nipple 11 and pull back on the nipple 11, it can only remove the floating 
calf feeder 10 from the milk pail 35 and cannot pull the nipple from the 
float ring 12 to injure either itself or the nipple 11. The floating calf 
feeder 10 is attached using a cord passing through the retainer hole 16a 
to the pail 35 so as the calf may not remove the floating calf feeder 10 
from the feeding area. Additionally, when feeding a calf using a suspended 
pail 35, a retaining cord attached to the retainer hole 16a may be 
suitably short so that should the calf remove the floating calf feeder 10 
from the pail 35, it will not fall to the floor becoming soiled. 
As the calf 39 becomes more and more accustomed to directly drinking the 
liquid 36 from the pail, the floating calf feeder 10 may be removed from 
the pail allowing the calf to feed only by directly drinking the liquid 
feed. 
These advantages, usages and many other usages will be found and realized 
by those versed in the art, and although various minor modifications may 
be suggested and employed by those who are versed in the art, be it known 
that we wish to embody within the scope of the patent granted hereon all 
such embodiments as reasonably come within the scope of our contribution 
to the art.