Patent ID: 7296536

Claim:
In a milking parlor ( 10 ) adapted for milking milk producing animals comprising: a row of milking stalls ( 14 ) accessible in serial order to said milk producing animals ( 12 ) from a front end ( 14 a ) of the row of milking stalls; and an animal identification station ( 20 ) arranged at the front end of said row of milking stalls, a method of automatically verifying identities of said milk producing animals ( 12 ) in said row of stalls ( 14 ) comprising the steps of: identifying said milk producing animals when entering said row of milking stalls ( 14 ) in serial order by means of said animal identification station; identifying a first one of the milk producing animals in the milking stall located at a far end ( 14 b ) of said row of milking stalls by means of a first identification member ( 24 ) provided in said milking stall located at the far end ( 14 b ) of said row of milking stalls; identifying a second one of the milk producing animals in the milking stall located at said front end ( 14 a ) of said row of milking stalls ( 14 ) by means of a second identification member ( 26 ) provided in said milking stall located at the front end ( 14 a ) of said row of milking stalls; identifying a third one of the milk producing animals in a milking stall located between said far and front ends of said row of milking stalls by means of a third identification member ( 28 ) provided in said milking stall located between said far and front ends of said row of milking stalls; comparing the identities of the first, second, and third identification members ( 24 , 26 , 28 ), respectively, with the first, last and n'th identities, respectively, of said animal identification station ( 20 ), and when counting from said far end of said row of milking stalls, said milking stall located between said far and front ends of said row of milking stalls is defined as the n'th milking stall; and depending on said comparison, verifying the identities of at least some of said milk producing animals in said row of milking stalls, wherein the identities of the milk producing animals in the milking stalls located between said far end and said milking stall located between said far and front ends of said row of milking stalls are verified provided that the identities of the first and third identification members ( 24 , 28 ), respectively, match with the first and n'th identities, respectively, from said animal identification station; and the identities of the milk producing animals in the milking stalls located between said milking stall located between said far and front ends and said front end of said row of milking stalls are verified provided that the identities of the second and third ( 26 , 28 ) identification members, respectively, match with the last and n'th identities, respectively, from said animal identification station.