Patent ID: 7296535

Claim:
A method of automatically milking a group of animals, which are allowed to move freely in an area intended therefore and to visit individually a milking parlor comprising an automatic milking machine or milking robot and an animal identification system, the method comprising: assigning a milking qualification parameter to each of the animals that are allowed to move freely in said area, the respective milking qualification parameter being a numerical value and indicating the degree of suitability that the respective animal, to which the milking qualification parameter is assigned, shall be milked; ranking the animals in a consecutive order in accordance with their respective milking qualification parameters; and milking an animal during a visit to the milking parlor only if said animal is identified as belonging to the X highest ranked ones of the ranked animals, X being a constant number over time, wherein the assigned milking qualification parameters are updated repeatedly; and the animals are re-ranked subsequent to each updating.