Patent ID: 8616155

Claim:
A milking arrangement for animals, comprising: a rotary platform ( 2 ); a driving mechanism ( 12 ) adapted to provide a rotary motion of the platform ( 2 ); milking stalls ( 3 ) adapted to house the animals ( 1 ) to be milked on the platform ( 2 ); and a blocking system, comprising i) a movable blocking member ( 20 , 25 ) adapted to temporarily block selected milking stalls ( 3 ) such that the animals ( 1 ) do not have access to the blocked milking stalls ( 3 ) during a period of time, and ii) a control unit ( 11 ) that controls motion of the blocking member ( 20 , 25 ) to temporarily block the selected milking stalls ( 3 ), wherein the control unit i) estimates a number of animals to enter the platform ( 2 ) during a future period of time, and ii) determines, based on the control unit's estimated number of animals to enter the platform ( 2 ) during the future period of time, whether the rotary platform ( 2 ) will be used to full capacity during the future period of time, wherein, when the control unit determines that the rotary platform ( 2 ) will not be used to full capacity during the future period of time, i) the control system makes a determination of a number of milking stalls to be blocked during the future period of time so that a remaining number of non-blocked stalls are used substantially continuously during the future period of time, and ii) the control unit controls the motion of the blocking member to temporarily block the determined number of the milking stalls ( 3 ) during the future period of time.