Patent ID: 8393040

Claim:
An apparatus for removing bedding material in an animal free stall, the animal free stall having a stall rail separating it from an adjacent animal free stall, the apparatus comprising: a fixed frame adapted for connection to a vehicle, and having a first end a second end; a movable frame pivotably attached to the fixed frame and extending generally horizontally to a surface on which the vehicle is positioned; a shaft rotatably mounted to the movable frame, with helical flighting mounted to an outer end of the shaft defining an auger, the auger configured to draw bedding material from adjacent an outer end of the auger toward an inner end of the auger, the shaft tilted downward from the inner end toward the outer end with respect to the surface on which the vehicle is positioned, the auger configured to be positioned with both the inner and outer ends within the animal free stall; a motor for selectively rotating the auger; a scraper movably mounted to the movable frame and positioned with a scraper end engaging the flighting of the auger adjacent an inner end of the auger to remove bedding material from the auger and direct the bedding material from the animal free stall.