Patent ID: 7114458

Claim:
A method for automatically notifying a user of a dairy farm, wherein milking animals are allowed to move freely in an area intended therefore and to visit individually an automatic milking station located in said area, said user being at a location remote to said milking station, and said milking station being configured for automatic milking of the milking animals and including an animal identification system and a database of the milking animals, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a pre-selection of a particular one of the milking animals; storing in the database an indication that the particular one of the milking animals is a pre-selected milking animal; identifying each milking animal that enters the milking station; referring to the database for establishing, for each milking animal that enters the milking station, if the milking animal is a pre-selected milking animal; notifying the remotely-located user of the pre-selected milking animal when the pre-selected milking animal enters the milking station to provide the remotely-located user with a notification of where said pre-selected milking animal is at a given time; and halting operation of the milking station until the notified, remotely-located user has moved to the milking station and found the pre-selected milking animal.