Animal transport assembly

Abstract

Existing methods of transporting animals, such as newborn calves on a farm, can present difficulties and health and safety risks both for the calves and the human workers. The present invention provides an animal transport assembly and method of loading multiple animals to the assembly, the assembly comprising a wheeled vehicle with a support structure and multiple displaceable slings which can be suspended from the support structure, wherein the slings can support the belly of an animal.

Description

ANIMAL TRANSPORT ASSEMBLYThe present invention relates to an animal transport assembly, and in particular to an animal transport assembly that is suitable for transporting newborn calves.When new calves are born on farms, often it is necessary to transport rapidly dozens of newborns to warm shelter with the use of a trailer. Placing the calves on the trailer and removing them can present difficulties and pose health and safety risks both for the calves and the human workers. There exists a need to safely and efficiently transport calves from the farm to shelter.According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an animal transport assembly comprising a wheeled vehicle with a support structure and one or more slings which can be suspended from the support structure, the or each sling comprising opposed ends and a body between the opposed ends for supporting the belly of an animal, wherein, in use, one end of the or each sling is suspended from the support structure with the other end hanging, whereby the other end can be passed under the belly of the animal and brought adjacent the first end to engage the support structure, the two ends then being displaceable along the support structure to accommodate further slings and animals held thereby.According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an animal transport assembly comprising a frame attachable to a wheeled vehicle, the frame including a support structure and one or more slings which can be suspended from the support structure, the or each sling comprising opposed ends and a body between the opposed ends for supporting the belly of an animal, wherein, in use, one end of the or each sling is suspended from the support structure with the other end hanging, whereby the other end can be passed under the belly of the animal and brought adjacent the first end to engage the support structure the first end, the two ends then being displaceable along the support structure to accommodate further slings and animals held thereby.According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method ofloading animals to an animal transport assembly, the animal transport assembly comprising a wheeled vehicle with a support structure from which one or more slings can be suspended, wherein the method comprises:suspending a first end of a sling from a support structure;passing a second end of the sling under the belly of an animal and bringing the second end adjacent the first end to engage the support structure such that the animal is suspended by the sling; anddisplacing the sling and animal suspended thereby along the support structure to accommodate further slings and animals suspended thereby.According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sling for transporting animals according to the method defined above, the sling comprising a body and opposed first and second ends, each of the ends including rollers, whereby, in use, the first end is suspendible from a support structure and the second end is capable of being passed under the belly of an animal and brought adjacent the first end on the support structure, thereby suspending the animal from the support structure.Preferably, the support structure forms a track, for example two bars adjacent one another. Preferably, the ends of the sling comprise rollers which can sit above the track such that a portion of the sling passes between the two adjacent bars and the body of the sling is suspended by the rollers. The assembly may be provided on a trailer and, at a rear end of the support structure, there may be provided stops in the form of small lips or abutments to prevent the rollers from sliding off the end of the support structure too easily. The stops are preferably large enough to substantially prevent the sling sliding off the end of the support structure even when the animal transport assembly is in motion, but small enough that little effort is required to hoist an end of the sling off the support structure when unloading an animal from the assembly.The sling may be composed of a material that is strong but flexible, such as woven polyester. The sling may further include reinforced portions along the side lengths or other parts of the sling, allowing it to substantially retain its form while supporting the weight of an animal. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the sling comprises webbing made from high tensile starched polyester. Fibreglass rods may be sewn into lateral straps of the sling to hold the shape of the sling around the animal. Preferably, the sling has a breaking strength of 3800kg.The assembly may include a loading support, which may be in the form of two parallel bars meeting at a closed loop, though other arrangements are envisaged which are suitable for providing a rest to support an animal during loading and / or for locating an empty sling prior to loading.Upper and lower guides may be provided for retaining an animal’s limbs or head within an area of the support structure. These could be in the form of walls, bars or any other suitable guiding and retention means.The present invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Figure lisa view of a sling for use in an animal transport assembly, including detail of the sling end;Figure 2 is a side view of an animal transport assembly;Figure 3 is a rear view of an animal transport assembly with a sling in a loading position; Figure 4 is a rear view of the animal transport assembly of Figure 3 in a loaded position with an animal in situ;Figure 5 is an animal transport assembly, according to another embodiment, attached to a wheeled vehicle;Figure 6 is a side view of the animal transport assembly of Figure 5;Figure 7 is a rear perspective view of the animal transport assembly of Figure 5; and Figure 8 is a view showing attachment of the animal transport assembly of Figure 5 to a component of a wheeled vehicle.Figure 1 shows a sling 1 having a body 2 and ends 3. The ends 3 comprise rollers 4. The rollers 4 are attached to the body 2 of the sling 1 by way of a panel 5 which is attached to the body 2 by way of bolts 6. The body 2 of sling 1 is formed of a flexible, strong material, preferably woven polyester, and comprises outer longitudinal straps 7 and a number of lateral straps 8 spanning the distance between the longitudinal straps 7.The sling can be suspended from a support structure situated on a wheeled vehicle, which in the embodiment shown in Figure 2 is a trailer 10. The ends 3 sit on the support structure 9, which includes two adjacent, parallel bars 9a, 9b (see Figures 3 and 4). The two bars 9a, 9b extend the length of the trailer 10. The support structure 9 also includes transverse bars 11 from which upper guide 12 extends. Lower guides 13 are also provided.Figure 3 shows a sling 1 in a loading position on the support structure 9. The support structure further includes a looped loading support 14 on which sling 1 rests in an open position with one end 3a suspended and the other end 3b hanging freely ready to receive an animal. Stops 15 are provided at the ends of bars 9a, 9b, such that the stops provide an abutment for the rollers 4, preventing them from slipping off the ends of the bars 9a, 9b.As shown in Figure 4, once an animal 16 is placed on the sling 1 and loading support 14, the sling 1 can be closed by bringing the second end 3b up to meet the first end 3a (not visible in this view) above the bars 9a, 9b and behind the stops 15. The upper guide 12 is used to delimit a height under which the animal’s head 17 is situated when in the loaded position. Lower guides 13 delimit a width within which the animal’s front and hind legs are kept when in the loaded position.Referring back to Figure 2, further slings 18 can be stowed at a rear area of the support structure 9. The rear area comprises a stowage structure including parallel, vertical bars (obscured in this view), through which slings 18 can be threaded such that their end portions abut against an inner side of the stowage structure and the bodies of the slings 18 can hang projecting out beyond the outer side of the stowage structure. To use a stowed sling, a user simply has to slide the ends up to the top of the support structure to free the sling from the rear. Once suspended, the animal 16 can be slid in towards the front of the support structure 9 on trailer 10 by rolling rollers 4 across the track provided by parallel bars 9a, 9b. Further slings can then be loaded onto the support structure 9 to load further animals until the trailer 10 is full, after which the animals can be transported together to shelter.Figure 5 shows an animal transport assembly according to another embodiment, comprising a frame 100 attachable to a wheeled vehicle 200, such as a front-loader. The frame 100 includes a support structure 9 comprising two tracks 9a, 9b (more clearly shown in Figure 7. As shown in Figure 6, the frame 100 is closed at a portion of each end with barriers 20 from which the looped loading support 14 and lower guides 13 project. Accordingly, the tracks 9a, 9b and looped loading supports 14 are loadable from alternate ends of the frame 100. Advantageously, when the animals being transported are newborn calves, the arrangement can accommodate twelve calves on each side of the frame.Figure 7 shows an attachment mechanism 19 having hook components 19a and ring components 19b for securement to a part of a wheeled vehicle. As shown in Figure 8, the entire frame 100 can be lifted by a part 200a of the wheeled vehicle (not shown), suspended and transported between locations.While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not by way of limitation. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments.Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. An animal transport assembly comprising a wheeled vehicle with a support structure and one or more slings which can be suspended from the support structure, the or each sling comprising opposed ends and a body between the opposed ends for supporting the belly of an animal, wherein, in use, one end of the or each sling is suspended from the support structure with the other end hanging, whereby the other end can be passed under the belly of the animal and brought adjacent the first end to engage the support structure the first end, the two ends then being displaceable along the support structure to accommodate further slings and animals held thereby.

2. An animal transport assembly comprising a frame attachable to a wheeled vehicle, the frame including a support structure and one or more slings which can be suspended from the support structure, the or each sling comprising opposed ends and a body between the opposed ends for supporting the belly of an animal, wherein, in use, one end of the or each sling is suspended from the support structure with the other end hanging, whereby the other end can be passed under the belly of the animal and brought adjacent the first end to engage the support structure the first end, the two ends then being displaceable along the support structure to accommodate further slings and animals held thereby.

3. The animal transport assembly of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the two ends include rollers and the support structure comprises a track along which the rollers can roll.

4. The animal transport assembly of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the body includes reinforced portions configured to substantially maintain the form of the or each sling under the weight of the animal.

5. The animal transport assembly of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the or each sling can be entirely removed from the animal transport assembly.

6. The animal transport assembly of claim 5, wherein the animal transport assemblyincludes a stowage portion for storing the sling when not in use.

7. The animal transport assembly of any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a loading support for locating the body of the sling prior to application of the sling to the animal and / or supporting the animal during loading of the animal to the assembly.

8. The animal transport assembly of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising at least one stop at an end of the support structure against which the ends of the sling can abut to substantially prevent the ends of the sling from slipping off the end of the support structure.

9. The animal transport assembly of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the support structure includes guide members for locating and retaining the animal’s limbs and / or head within an area of the support structure.

10. The animal transport assembly of claim 3 or any one of claims 4 to 9 appended thereto, the assembly comprising a plurality of tracks, wherein adjacent tracks are closed at alternate ends.

11. A method of loading animals to an animal transport assembly, the animal transport assembly comprising a wheeled vehicle with a support structure from which one or more slings can be suspended, wherein the method comprises:suspending a first end of a sling from a support structure;passing a second end of the sling under the belly of an animal and bringing the second end adjacent the first end to engage the support structure such that the animal is suspended by the sling; anddisplacing the sling and animal suspended thereby along the support structure to accommodate further slings and animals suspended thereby.

12. A sling for transporting animals according to the method of claim 11, the sling comprising a body and opposed first and second ends, whereby, in use, the first end is suspendible from a support structure and the second end is capable of being passed under the belly of an animal and brought adjacent the first end on the support structure, thereby suspending the animal from the support structure.

13. The sling of claim 11, wherein the opposed first and second ends include rollers.

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