Patent ID: 8171882

Claim:
An arrangement for housing and milking a large number of milking animals, comprising: a resting and feeding area ( 11 ) wherein the milking animals are allowed to rest and are supplied with feed; a milking area ( 13 ) housing an automatic milking station ( 31 ) for milking the milking animals comprising milking equipment which is automatically attached to the teats of a milking animal present in the automatic milking station ( 31 ) by a robot arm; and a passage way ( 15 ) interconnecting the resting and feeding area ( 11 ) and the milking area ( 13 ), and along which passage way ( 15 ) milking animals are capable of being walked in order to move back and forth between the resting and feeding area ( 11 ) and the milking area ( 13 ), wherein, the resting and feeding area ( 11 ) comprises plural adjacently located enclosed sections ( 17 ), each of the sections ( 17 ) is sized to house plural of said milking animals defining a respective subgroup of said milking animals, each of the sections ( 17 ) having a respective entry/exit gate ( 19 ) opening into said passage way ( 15 ), through which respective entry/exit gate ( 19 ) the animals of the subgroup are capable of passing in order to move back and forth between the section ( 17 ) and the passage way ( 15 ); a first plurality of said sections ( 17 ) are arranged in a first row ( 21 ) along a first side of the passage way ( 15 ) so that a first end of each of said first plurality of said sections ( 17 ) faces the first side of said passage way ( 15 ), wherein each of said first plurality of said sections ( 17 ) comprises a first feeding area ( 23 ) in a second end thereof, which second end is opposite to the first end thereof that faces the first side of said passage way ( 15 ).