WO2019221659A1 - Control of a milking station - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, a control unit, a computer program, a milking station, a milking facility and a graphical user interface, provided to help dairy farmers to produce milk which is suitable for special purposes, such as cheese production. The method is provided to control an automatic milking station, which milking station can be entered by an animal to be milked when having a valid milking permission. The method comprises obtaining an indication of a dairy product, out of a set of dairy products; and further controlling at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product.

Description

CONTROL OF A MILKING STATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to milking equipment, and in particular the invention relates to control of a milking station in order to support production of specific selected dairy products.

BACKGROUND

Today, many large dairy farms are equipped with automatic milking systems, AMSs, involving robot assisted milking of dairy animals. One type of AMS solution is stationary milking stations, or“boxes”, equipped with a milking robot. Dairy animals, come voluntarily to the milking station and are allowed to enter, one at a time, when they are due for milking.

Use of so-called voluntary milking systems often results in that animals are milked more than the two times per day which is typical for conventional milking systems. By being milked more than twice a day, the animals are stimulated to produce more milk, which is beneficial for the farm economy. A farm may have one or more such milking stations, depending on how large the herd is.

An exemplifying milking station is shown in figure 1. The milking station is equipped with a multi-purpose robot arm, a teat locating camera unit, and a magazine for storing teat cups. It also comprises a teat preparation module for e.g. pre-cleaning and post-treatment of animal teats; a feeding module for providing feed to animals during milking, and a cleaning unit for cleaning of teat cups and other equipment. The milking station further comprises a hydraulic pump unit, a power box, an electrical box, and a service switch. The animals enter and exit the milking station through gates 101.

Although an AMS solution brings many advantages, many farmers are reluctant to take the step into automized milking. The inventor has realized that this in some situations depends on tradition and reluctance to change a winning concept. For example, a farm or region may be famous for its cheese or butter, and the milk producers are worried that e.g. the special flavour of their milk, which might have been used to make the special cheese or butter for decades or centuries, will be changed if modern technology is brought into the barns. The subject matter disclosed herein aims to help also dairy farmers having such worries to benefit from the work-saving advantages of AMS. It further aims at enabling other dairy farmers, which perhaps do not possess the knowledge or tradition accumulated over generations, but still have a desire, to produce highly desirable dairy products, or at least produce milk which is suitable for producing such products. SUMMARY

The subject matter disclosed herein provides a convenient solution to ensuring that milk having desired characteristics is harvested by an automatic milking station. The invention enables and facilitates production of e.g. traditional cheese types, also in (despite) a very modern environment, while still benefiting from the work-saving and other advantages of an automatic milking system.

According to a first aspect, a method is provided to control an automatic milking station. The milking station is of the type that can be entered by an animal that is to be milked. The milking station has means for harvesting milk from an animal. The provided method comprises obtaining an indication of a dairy product, out of a set of dairy products and further controlling at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product.

The method may be implemented in different embodiments wherein, for example, the at least one setting comprises the time between milking permissions, e.g. such that the time between milking permissions is set such that the animal only is milked twice per 24 hours (where an animal needs a valid milking permission to be milked in the automatic milking station).

Further, the at least one setting may comprise the sorting of milk to a separate container based on a non-disease related characteristic of an/the animal. Alternatively or in addition, milk can be sorted to a separate container based on the time of day the milking takes place, e.g during the morning or during the evening. The milk could further be sorted to a separate container, based on a lactation stage of the animal, associated with said dairy product;

and/or based on the breed of the animal being milked. The sorting of milk to a separate container could further be performed based on the amount of time an animal being milked has spent outdoors.

The method could further comprise triggering a feeding system to distribute a specific type of feed to animals, which feed is suitable for said dairy product.

The dairy products in the set may be assumed to be refined/processed/elaborated dairy products, such as cheese, and not pure/raw milk.

According to a second aspect, a control unit is provided, which is operable to control an automatic milking station like the one described under the first aspect. The control unit is configured to obtain an indication of a dairy product, out of a predefined set of dairy products; and to control at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product.

The control unit according may be configured to control the at least one setting according to different embodiments corresponding to the ones mentioned under the first aspect, e.g. by setting the time between milking permissions such that the animal only is milked twice per 24 hours, e.g. once in the morning and once in the evening (where an animal needs a valid milking permission to be milked in the automatic milking station). The control of at least one setting may relate to sorting of milk to a separate container, based on a non-disease related characteristic of an animal and/or on a time of day when the milking is performed. The control unit may be configured to retrieve the at least one setting based on the obtained indication of a dairy product. The control unit may further be configured to trigger a feeding system to distribute a specific type of feed to animals, based on the obtained indication of a dairy product.

According to a third aspect, a computer program is provided, which comprises instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect, a milking station is provided, that comprises a control unit according to the second aspect.

According to a fifth aspect, a milking facility is provided, that comprises at least one milking station and further comprises a control unit according to the second aspect.

According to a sixth aspect, a graphical user interface, GUI, is provided, that comprises a set of selectable alternative dairy products, each being associated with at least one setting of a milking station, wherein the GUI is configured to trigger a milking station to apply the at least one setting associated with an alternative, when said alternative is selected by a user. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the technology disclosed herein will be apparent from the following more particular description of embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the technology disclosed herein.

Figure 1 shows an exemplifying milking station.

Figures 2-4 are flow charts illustrating a method according to exemplifying embodiments.

Figures 5a-5c are schematic block diagrams illustrating different implementations of a control unit, CU, according to exemplifying embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the opposite might be expected, some farmers are not interested in modernizing the farm milking procedure by introducing automated milking systems. They just do not find that such a solution would serve their purposes as being a proud producer of high end (processed) dairy products. Meanwhile, since the more traditional milking procedures require more manual labor (than automated milking), the number of dairy animals kept in their farms needs to be limited to a number which can be handled by the available, often expensive and therefore limited, work resources.

The invention relates to a method for conveniently controlling an automatic milking station and an intuitive, and user friendly user interface for such control. The control of the milking station should result in that milk with desired characteristics is harvested and collected. In case“other” milk with other characteristics is also harvested in the milking station, the milk with desired characteristics should be separable from the other milk, e.g. be automatically collected in a different container than such other milk.

The control interface is easy to use and does not require the user to have any advanced, or even any, knowledge about what is changed in the settings of the milking station when giving a selection input via the interface. This is a great advantage, since although it may have been possible in theory to adjust some of these settings manually, it has required knowledge, skill and also courage, in order to diverge from recommended settings. When having made a selection via the interface, milk having certain characteristics will be harvested by the milking station. It may take some time until milk having the desired characteristics may be harvested, depending on what settings that are changed, and in such a case, the expected time until such milk will be harvested may be indicated to the user via a user interface.

It should be appreciated, that the invention disclosed herein is not about ensuring that the milk in a milk bulk tank has a somatic cell count below a desired threshold value, nor is it about merely separating harvested milk based on its determined fat content. It goes much further than that. The invention is primarily thought to be used for supporting cheese making, but it is also possible to use it for supporting and stimulating production of other types of elaborated/processed dairy products, such as e.g. butter, yoghurt or processed sour milk.

Examples of cheeses which are made from milk associated with special requirements are e.g. so-called Parmesan, Gruyere and Morbier. Making of Parmesan cheese involves special, different use of evening and morning milk, and also require that animals have a specific all-natural diet of grass and hay from a specific region in Italy. As observed by the inventor, parameters associated with a dairy animal that may influence the flavor of its milk, and thus of cheese made from the milk are e.g. the breed of the animal, the diet of the animal, the current stage of lactation of the animal, and also the health of the animal.

Parameters of the milking procedure that may influence the flavor of milk/cheese are: time between milking occasions; teat preparation, e.g. which type of cleaning method and/or liquid that is used; and whether or how pre-milking is performed. Another parameter that may be important is the time an animal has spent outdoors. This may be important for different reasons, both in terms of the diet of the animal, assuming that it has been grazing during the time outdoors, and also in terms of animal welfare. The diet is relevant for the flavor of products made from the milk, and the welfare aspect is relevant to a large group of consumers of dairy products, and to producers wanting to produce so-called“organic” products or products being certified as ensuring animal welfare.

Exemplifying embodiments of method, figures 2-4

Below, exemplifying embodiments of a method will be described with reference to figures 2-4. The embodiments are intended to be performed by a control unit which is associated with a milking station. The term“associated with” is here intended to cover e.g. the control unit being comprised in the milking station; being operatively connected to the milking station and/or constituting a part of the milking station. The control unit will be described in more detail further below in association with figure 5. The milking station comprises different components, which may be referred to as milking station equipment. The milking station may be assumed to be of the type, which an animal can enter to be milked when having a valid permission to be milked, a so-called milking permission, although there may be other possibilities where the invention is applicable. The milking station may also be assumed to have means for harvesting milk from an animal, and further to have means for preventing animals not having a valid milking permission from being milked. An example of a milking station has been described above in association with figure 1. The milking station is suitable for automatic milking of an animal, such as cow, buffalo, pig, goat, sheep, camel or horse.

Figure 2 shows an exemplifying basic method embodiment for control of a milking station. The method illustrated in figure 2 comprises an action 201 , of obtaining an indication of a dairy product, out of a predefined set of dairy products. The method in figure 2 further comprises an action 202, of controlling at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product.

The indication is preferably obtained from a man-machine interface, or from a memory or other intermediate entity, storing or holding a selection previously made (by a human) in such a man-machine interface. The interface is configured to present a set of, i.e. a number of, alternative dairy products to a human, e.g. in form of images, names and/or types. The human then selects one (or more) alternative(s) from the set of processed dairy products, and the selection is then provided to, and obtained as an indication by, the control unit. It may also be possible to select a desired amount of the selected dairy product.

When obtaining the indication, the control unit may automatically derive, e.g. from a database or other memory, the settings associated with the selected processed dairy product, and control the at least one setting e.g. by adapting a threshold, a condition for separating milk or a time between milking permissions. The setting associated with the selected dairy product can be valid (applied) until a criterion is fulfilled, such as e.g. until a certain amount of the desired milk has been harvested, for example a selected amount or an amount corresponding to a selected amount of a dairy product. The settings could alternatively be valid (applied) until a new selection is made, or until a determined time period has elapsed.

Depending on the setting/s in question, the setting could be valid for all lactating animals in the farm, or only for a sub-set of those animals. The animals to be affected by the controlled at least one setting may be the animals of a certain breed within the herd, and/or animals within a certain stage of lactation. Alternatively or in addition, the setting may be valid for the animals within a herd which have spent more than a certain time outdoors, thus e.g. having been exposed to sunlight and eaten a certain amount of grass while grazing.

The term“controlling at least one setting” should be understood as changing, adapting or adjusting a current setting, into the at least one setting, being associated with the selected dairy product, such that it is applied to the milking of a number of animals, e.g. a specific group, as described above. In the special case when a setting associated with the selected dairy product partly happens to coincide with a currently or previously used setting, “controlling” could be understood as confirming or verifying that also that part of the at least one setting associated with the selected dairy product is applied to the milking of animals.

The purpose of the controlling is that milk is to be produced, which has the right, e.g.

traditional, characteristics for producing the selected dairy product. If other types of milk is also to be produced on the farm during the same time period, and different settings are applied for the animals which are to produce the other types of milk, the milk with the selected characteristics should be separated from the other types of milk, preferably by being collected in a separate container.

The at least one setting may be related to/comprise the sorting (separation) of milk to a separate container, based on a non-disease related characteristic of the animal (associated with said dairy product). For example, given that a herd comprises different breeds of animals, and that the milk from one of said breeds is associated with certain characteristics suitable for making of a certain type of cheese. Assuming as an example, that a certain type of cheese has been selected as dairy product by an operator of the milking station. The making of said cheese requires that the animals (possibly of a certain breed) are milked only twice a day, even though they would normally be milked three times per day in the milking station. When having obtained the indication of the selected type of cheese, the control unit controls the settings of the milking station by changing the milking permissions for all, or a sub-set of, animals of the certain breed within the herd, such that they will only be milked twice a day for the coming period. Below, animals to be affected by new settings will be referred to as“selected animals”. The remaining animals of the herd may keep their settings and continue to be milked e.g. 3 times per day. The settings would further be changed such that the milk from these selected animals was separated from milk harvested from other animals. For example, the milk from the selected animals could be collected in a specific milk container/tank, being separate from a tank in which milk harvested from other animals is collected. This could be controlled by that when an animal is identified as being one of the selected ones (the ones e.g. fulfilling a certain criterium, or being part of a randomly selected group), the milk harvested from the animal would be conducted, e.g. via a controllable valve, to the specific milk container. Other examples of characteristics which could cause milk to be separated according to the setting is in which lactation stage the animal being milked is in. For example, it may be desired to make the certain type of cheese from milk harvested from animals being in the first week or weeks of lactation; or from animals being in the peak period of the lactation period. Information on the breed and stage of lactation of the animals may be obtained from a herd management system, or similar, to which the milking station and/or the control unit is/are connected. In such a heard management system, facts and information about each animal is stored in association with an identity reference of the animal. When an animal is identified in the milking station before milking, such information could be obtained, e.g. retrieved from the heard navigation system, or similar database, comprising such information.

It should be noted that the settings could be applied to a sub-set of animals, although all animals of a certain breed or within the herd could potentially be selected. This may be useful e.g. when the amount of milk needed to make the selected type of dairy product is lower than the total amount produced by the herd or harvested in the milking station.

Assuming that a farmer has a certain capacity of producing cheese, or, has a customer, who wants to buy a certain amount of milk for producing cheese. The settings could then be applied such that only a certain amount of the milk is produced e.g. per day, per couple of days, per week, or similar. This would be the case when the animals on a farm, taken together, are capable of producing more milk than what is needed for producing a desired amount of a particular selected dairy product. In such cases, more than one dairy product could potentially be selected in the interface, and milk harvested according to different settings, destined for production of the different dairy products could be sorted/separated into different containers. If there are more animals than needed to produce the milk required for the production of a plurality of different selected dairy products, the milk from such additional animals could be collected in a bulk tank. Such milk can herein be referred to as“regular milk”.

The obtained indication of a dairy product could be accompanied by an indication of a quantity associated with the dairy product, such as how much (e.g. in weight, volume or pieces or batches) of the dairy product that it is desired to produce, or, an amount of milk desired/required for the production. Such an amount could be selectable in the interface in which the dairy product is selected.

The at least one setting may further comprise that harvested milk is sorted to a separate container based on the time of day, e.g. morning or evening. This could also be expressed as that it is sorted based on whether being a first milking of the day or a subsequent milking of the day. This could be the case when a selected (processed) dairy product is associated with, e.g. supposed to be made from, milk harvested in the morning. In that case, milk from a group of animals having the preferred non-disease related characteristics in terms of e.g. breed, lactation stage, and/or milking intervals is separated from milk from other animals only during the first milking of the day. That is, so-called morning milk from such animals may be collected in (conducted to) a specific, separate container when they are milked the first time during the day (e.g. each day). In such a case, milk harvested from the same (selected) group of animals may be collected in the same tank as milk harvested from other animals during their consecutive milking occasion/s during the day.

Figure 3 shows an exemplifying embodiment of a method in more detail, comprising many of the different features mentioned above. First, an indication of a dairy product is obtained, e.g. received, in an action 302. This indication may further comprise information about a quantity, either of the product in its final form, or of the milk that is to be used for producing the dairy product. Information about a quantity may alternatively be obtained separately, be assumed as a default value or as:“as much as possible”. Then, in action 303, one or more settings are retrieved based on the obtained indication of a dairy product, i.e. settings associated with the indicated product. The correct setting/s may be retrieved e.g. from a local or remote memory or database by a predefined request procedure. When one or more settings associated with the indicated dairy product has been retrieved, these settings are assigned 304 to the milking station, to be applied by the milking station (corresponds to controlling the setting). For example, the at least one setting could be inserted in a control algorithm controlling the function of the milking station. The flow chart in figure 3 then continues with actions performed by the milking station in relation to an animal. In this example, it may thus be the case that the control unit performing the method is, at least partly, involved in these actions, which may imply that the control unit is an integrated part of the milking station or at least of its control system. When the milking station has been prepared with the retrieved settings and an animal comes to be milked, the animal is first identified in an action 305. Identification is typically performed before the animal is even let into the milking station. Then, it is determined in an action 306, whether the animal is one of the animals for which the retrieved one or more settings are to be applied. If the retrieved one or more settings comprise the adjustment of the time between milking permissions of some animals, this setting would probably be handled by adjusting the times for milking permissions in the register where such information is normally stored. But, as an alternative possibility, the time between milking permissions could be adjusted based on the setting, as compared to a stored“regular” interval, each time an animal shows up at the milking station. If the animal is found to have a valid milking permission, she is let into the milking station. If the animal is found not to be one of the animals for which the derived settings are to be applied, the milking proceeds according to standard settings, just as it would have for all animals if no dairy product had been selected and indicated to the control unit. This is illustrated in figure 3 as an action 307, denoted“regular procedure”. When, on the other hand, the animal is found to be one of the animals for which the dairy product-specific setting is to be applied, e.g. being of a specific breed or in a specific stage of lactation, these settings kick in (are applied). Here, the settings associated with the indicated dairy product comprise the applying of a specific teat preparation procedure 308, which differs from what is normally performed. For example, the teat preparation procedure may comprise a longer stimulating phase and involve use of a special cleaning agent or a cleaning agent of a higher temperature than what is normally used. The settings could also involve use of a specific milking vacuum or pulsation. Then, the milk harvested from this animal is to be separated, e.g. routed, to a specific milk container, comprising only milk from the selected animals for which the dairy product specific settings are applied. The milk harvested in action 307 would be routed to, i.e. end up in, another milk container, e.g. a bulk milk tank.

The method may further comprise the control unit triggering a feeding system to distribute a specific type of feed to animals, which feed is suitable for said dairy product. This is illustrated in figure 4, as action 403. By being suitable for said dairy product, should be understood that the dairy product is supposed to be made from, or is preferably made from milk harvested from animals having the specific type of feed as at least part of their diet. It may be a certain type of grass, herbs or a regional specialty. The diet of a dairy animal may influence the taste, or flavor, of its milk. Therefore, it may be desired to feed animals the specific type of feed, with the goal of producing a specific dairy product. However, this feed may be expensive, hard to find or have a negative impact on milk which is to be used for other purposes than the indicated dairy product. Therefore, it might not be desired to feed it to all animals, but only to the ones intended to produce the milk for making the product. This could alternatively be expressed as that it should only be given to the animals which are to produce milk, which is suitable/desired for production of the selected dairy product.

The triggering 403 of a feeding system to distribute a specific type of feed may be implemented in different ways. For example, the control unit could indicate, e.g. in a message, the specific type of feed and the identity of the animals which are intended to receive it to another entity controlling a feeding system. The feeding system may comprise a number of feed dispensers and/or a mixing and distribution system. Thereby, whenever one of the identified animals visits a feed dispenser, feed of the right type may be dispensed by the feeding system.

The method may further comprise a screening of the health of the animals, such as e.g. an online analysis of the somatic cell count in the harvested milk. Milk from animals found to be ill, e.g. by detecting too high levels of somatic cells in their milk, may be excluded from being separated to the specific milk tank, and instead be sent to a bulk tank, or be discarded.

By use of an embodiment of the method described above, a farmer may select e.g. in a graphical interface, a type of dairy product which s/he would like to produce or be a supplier of milk to a producer of. The farmer may then at a later point in time collect milk being suitable for producing such a dairy product, e.g. in a specific container. The farmer could then go ahead and produce the desired dairy product or sell the milk for a good price to a producer. The settings, which should be applied to the milking station for ensuring generation of milk with the right characteristics and flavor for production of a selected processed dairy product should be stored such that they are accessible to the control unit. Such settings could be stored locally in a memory or database, and/or be obtained from a remote server when required, e.g. on request, given the control unit has access to a network or other link to such a remote server.

The method enables traditional farmers to take advantage of the benefits of modern automatic milking systems while still being able to, in an easy manner, produce milk of the right type for producing certain products. Such farmers could also advantageously expand their herds, e.g. with animals of a different breed giving more milk, but not being suitable for the desired e.g. cheese production. The milk from the different breeds of animals could then be handled separately and be collected in different milk containers, at least during certain periods, and different milking regimes/settings could, in a very user friendly manner, be applied for the different breed animals.

The set of selectable dairy products could be automatically adapted to the conditions of the farm in which the milking station is located. Such adaptation could be based on information obtained from a herd management system to which the milking station and/or the control unit are connected. Among such information would typically be available the type and/or breed of animals, the number of animals, the lactation stage and age, etc. Thereby, only processed dairy products which would be possible to produce, given the resources of the farm, could be made selectable. For example, dairy products made from goat milk should preferably not be visible/selectable for a dairy farm comprising only sheep, although the same type of milking station could be used for milking both sheep and goats.

The technology disclosed herein can be used as a pro-active way to produce and harvest milk being suitable for production of a selected type of dairy product. The method is not related to a mere analyzing of harvested milk, which then may be separated it if it fulfills a certain criteria, but is a tool of ensuring the production and harvesting of such desired milk.

Exemplifying embodiments of control unit, figures 5a-5c

An exemplifying embodiment of a control unit is illustrated in a general manner in figure 5a. The control unit is operable to control a milking station and may be assumed to be operable to obtain information related to the milking station and to control the settings of the milking station, which have been described above, and which will be briefly described below. The milking station which the control unit is operable to control may be assumed to comprise, i.e. be equipped with, means for harvesting milk from an animal. Preferably, the milking station further comprises means for preventing animals to enter the milking station when not having a valid milking permission, in order to prevent animals, which are not to be milked, to block the milking station. This could alternatively be handled already at the entrance to a waiting area, or similar.

The control unit is preferably comprised in the milking station, e.g. as a module or a part of the milking station, but could alternatively be external to the milking station. For example, the control unit could be a part of a central system or arrangement for controlling a plurality of milking stations. The control unit may alternatively be denoted e.g.“control device”. The communication between the control unit and parts of the milking station may be performed over a state of the art wireless and/or wired interface. The control unit 500 is configured to perform the actions of at least one of the method embodiments described above with reference to any of figures 2-4. The control unit 500 is associated with the same technical features, objects and advantages as the previously described method embodiments. The control unit will be described in brief in order to avoid unnecessary repetition.

The control unit may be implemented and/or described as follows:

The control unit 500 comprises processing circuitry 501 and a communication interface 502. The processing circuitry 501 is configured to cause the control unit 500 to obtain an indication of a dairy product, out of a predefined set of dairy products. The processing circuitry 501 is further configured to cause the control unit 500 to control, e.g. adjust, at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product. Thereby, the control unit is configured to enable and to ensure production and harvesting of a specific type of milk which is suitable for production of the indicated dairy product. The communication interface 502, which may also be denoted e.g. Input/Output (I/O) interface, includes a wired and/or a wireless interface for sending data, such as commands, to other nodes or entities, e.g. of the milking station; and for receiving information from other nodes or entities, such as from a graphical user interface associated with the milking station, or from a data base comprising settings associated with an indicated dairy product.

Figure 5b shows an embodiment of the processing circuitry 501 which comprises a processing device 503, such as a general-purpose microprocessor, e.g. a CPU, and a memory 504, in communication with the processing device, that stores or holds instruction code readable and executable by the processing device. The instruction code stored or held in the memory may be in the form of a computer program 505, which when executed by the processing device 503 causes the control unit 500 to perform the actions in the manner described above.

An alternative implementation of the processing circuitry 501 is shown in figure 5c. The processing circuitry here comprises an obtaining unit 507 for causing the control unit to obtain an indication of a dairy product, out of a set of dairy products. The processing circuitry further comprises a setting adaptation unit 509 for causing the control unit to control at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product. The processing circuitry may further comprise e.g. a triggering unit 510 for causing the control unit to trigger a feeding system to distribute a specific type of feed to certain animals. The processing circuitry 501 could comprise more units configured to cause the control unit to perform optional actions associated with one or more of the method embodiments described herein. As examples, units 506 and 508 are provided, having dashed outlines. The control unit 500 could, for example, comprise a GUI unit 506 for managing a Graphical User Interface in which a person can select a dairy product from a set of dairy products. A deriving or retrieving unit 510, could be arranged to cause the control unit 500 to retrieve at least one setting associated with the selected dairy product e.g. from a remote source or a data base. This, and other tasks, could alternatively be performed by one of the other units.

The control unit 500 may comprise further functionality, for carrying out control unit functions not specifically mentioned herein, related e.g. to standard operation of the milking station.

The foregoing description of a control unit 500 is not intended be limiting. The processing circuitry may also be implemented by other techniques known in the art, such as, e.g., hard wired transistor logic or application-specific integrated circuits arranged in a manner sufficient to carry out the actions of the control unit 500 as described above.

To summarize, the steps, functions, procedures, modules, units and/or blocks described herein may be implemented in hardware using any conventional technology, such as discrete circuit or integrated circuit technology, including both general-purpose electronic circuitry and application-specific circuitry. Alternatively, at least some of the steps, functions, procedures, modules, units and/or blocks described above may be implemented in software such as a computer program for execution by suitable processing circuitry including one or more processing units. The software could be carried by a carrier, such as an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium before and/or during the use of the computer program in the nodes.

The flow diagram or diagrams presented herein may be regarded as a computer flow diagram or diagrams, when performed by one or more processors. A corresponding apparatus may be defined as a group of function modules, where each step performed by the processor corresponds to a function module. In this case, the function modules are implemented as a computer program running on the processor.

It should also be understood that it may be possible to re-use the general processing capabilities of any conventional device or unit in which the proposed technology is implemented. It may also be possible to re-use existing software, e.g. by reprogramming of the existing software or by adding new software components. The embodiments described above are merely given as examples, and it should be understood that the proposed technology is not limited thereto. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the present scope. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible.

When using the word "comprise" or“comprising” it shall be interpreted as non- limiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of".

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or the functionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or block diagrams may be at least partially integrated. Finally, other blocks may be added/inserted between the blocks that are illustrated, and/or blocks/operations may be omitted without departing from the scope of inventive concepts.

It is to be understood that the choice of interacting units, as well as the naming of the units within this disclosure are only for exemplifying purpose, and nodes suitable to execute any of the methods described above may be configured in a plurality of alternative ways in order to be able to execute the suggested procedure actions.

It should also be noted that the units described in this disclosure are to be regarded as logical entities and not with necessity as separate physical entities.

Claims

1. A method to control an automatic milking station, which milking station can be

entered by an animal to be milked, said milking station having means for harvesting milk from an animal, the method comprising:

-obtaining an indication of a dairy product, out of a set of dairy products;

-automatically controlling at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one setting comprises the time between milking permissions, where an animal is required to have a valid milking permission in order to be milked in the automatic milking station.

3. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one

setting comprises that the time between milking permissions is set such that the animal only is milked twice per 24 hours, where an animal is required to have a valid milking permission in order to be milked in the automatic milking station.

4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one

setting comprises the sorting of milk to a separate container, based on a non disease related characteristic of an animal.

5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one

setting comprises the sorting of milk to a separate container based on the time of day.

6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one

setting comprises the sorting of milk to a separate container based whether the milking takes place during the morning or during the evening.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one

setting comprises the sorting of milk to a separate container, based on a lactation stage of the animal.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one

setting comprises the sorting of milk to a separate container, based on the breed of the animal being milked.

9. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one setting comprises the sorting of milk to a separate container, based on the amount of time an animal being milked has spent outdoors.

10. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises triggering a feeding system to distribute a specific type of feed to animals, which feed is suitable for said dairy product.

11. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the dairy products in the set are refined/processed/elaborated dairy products, such as cheese, i.e. not milk.

12. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the set of dairy products comprises different types of cheese

13. A control unit (500) operable to control an automatic milking station, which milking station can be entered by an animal to be milked, said milking station having means for harvesting milk from an animal, the control unit being configured to: -obtain an indication of a dairy product, out of a predefined set of dairy products; and to:

-control at least one setting of the milking station based on the indicated dairy product.

14. The control unit according to claim 13, being configured to control the at least one setting by setting the time between milking permissions, where an animal is required to have a valid milking permission in order to be milked in the automatic milking station.

15. The control unit according to any of claims 13-14, being configured to control the at least one setting by setting the time between milking permissions such that the animal only is milked twice per 24 hours, where an animal is required to have a valid milking permission in order to be milked in the automatic milking station.

16. The control unit according to any of claims 13-15, wherein the control of at least one setting relates to sorting of milk to a separate container, based on a non disease related characteristic of an animal.

17. The control unit according to any of claims 13-16, wherein the control of at least one setting relates to sorting of milk to a separate container, based on a time of day when the milking is performed.

18. The control unit according to any of the claims 13-17, being configured to retrieve the at least one setting based on the obtained indication of a dairy product.

19. The control unit according to any of the claims 13-18, being further configured to trigger a feeding system to distribute a specific type of feed to animals, based on the obtained indication of a dairy product.

20. Computer program (505) comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of claims 1-12.

21. A milking station comprising a control unit according to any of claims 13-19.

22. A milking facility comprising at least one milking station and further comprising a control unit according to any of claims 13-19.

23. A graphical user interface, GUI, comprising a set of selectable alternative dairy products, each being associated with at least one setting of a milking station, wherein the GUI is configured to trigger a milking station to apply the at least one setting associated with an alternative, when said alternative is selected by a user.