Patent ID: 7810450

Claim:
A gate for domestic farm animals comprising a support, a barrier for the animals carried by the support, the support and barrier being arranged for enabling the barrier to turn about a horizontal axis from a quiescent position in only a first direction in response to the animal pushing against the barrier, the barrier including plural tines that can turn independently of each other in the first direction about the horizontal axis, the tines and the support being arranged so: (a) the animal must pass through the gate in the first direction to reach a destination, (b) as the animal passes through the gate in the first direction, the animal pushes against the tines to turn the tines in the first direction to raise the tines from the quiescent position to another position that is sufficiently high as to enable the animal to pass under the tines, and (c) after the animal has passed through the gate the tines have returned to the quiescent position, the horizontal axis, the support and the tines being arranged so that the animal can walk through the barrier while moving its legs in a normal walking manner, the tines having free ends positioned such that the heads of the animals can pass under the free ends only as a result of the animals ducking their heads lower than the usual positions thereof, the tines being arranged so the quiescent position is settable to plural planes relative to a vertical plane, one of the planes being the vertical plane.