Patent ID: 7406927

Claim:
An animal weighing system for use in a pen containing a plurality of quadruped animals, said pen having at least first and second segregated spaces with a first one-way chute allowing animal passage from the second space to the first space, comprising a) a passage having an entrance and an exit, said passage allowing animal passage from the first space to the second space; b) a weighing station within the passage, said weighing station including i) a weighing platform within the passage and forming a part of the platform and over which an animal must pass when passing from the first to the second space, said weighing platform having inlet and exit ends adjacent to the first and second spaces respectively, ii) an inlet scale supporting the weighing platform adjacent to the inlet end thereof, and periodically providing an inlet weight signal encoding a value indicating the weight supported by the inlet scale, and iii) an exit scale supporting the weighing platform adjacent to the exit end thereof and periodically providing an exit weight signal encoding a value indicating the weight supported by the exit scale; and c) a controller receiving the inlet and exit weight signals and comprising i) a memory, ii) a calculation element receiving and recording the inlet and exit weight signals in the memory, calculating and recording in the memory a scale weight value equal to the sum of values encoded in at least one inlet weight signal and at least one exit weight signal, and iii) a platform status element periodically executing an algorithm determining from the values encoded in the inlet and exit weight signals the presence of a single animal on the weighing platform, and responsive to said determination issuing a weight captured signal signifying that the recorded scale weight value accurately specifies the weight of the animal on the scale.