LELY // 20 jaar melkrobot by Bookela

Inspiring stories about outstanding entrepreneurs

STARS OF DAIRY FARMING

STARS OF DAIRY FARMING INSPIRING STORIES ABOUT OUTSTANDING ENTREPRENEURS

CONTENTS

Foreword Thank you for your inspiration!

Introduction

Chapter 1 Productive 24/7 Spotlight on Timo Joosten in France Fresh rations for every cow every minute of the day Both farmer and cow appreciate the 24/7 approach 24/7 in Estonia: the advent of large-scale dairy farming

14 18 30 34 40

Chapter 2 Animal Welfare Spotlight on Mackie’s in Scotland Happy with Lely Astronaut milking robots and Lely ABC grazing system A small step from Lely Calm to Lely Astronaut The cow determines the success of your farm Free cow traffic in top form

46 50 64

Chapter 3 Sustainability Spotlight on Johann Elling in Germany The sun as a source of energy and income Manure digester produces electricity, bedding and natural fertilizer Refining the “new gold” sustainably Holistic approach to sustainable business

70 74 78 82 86 98 102 106 110

Chapter 4 Profitability Spotlight on the Gala Merini family in Spain Large-scale dairy farms continue to grow French cheese from robot milk Unique approach elicits admiration Ambition, courage and drive

116 120 132 138 142 146

Chapter 5 A pleasant working environment Spotlight on Peter Gille in the Netherlands Between tradition and innovation Russian livestock farmer sets the trend with an open-air farm A pleasant place for cows, tourists and disadvantaged children Automating, structuring and motivating

150 154 166 170 174 178

Chapter 6 Twenty years on from the revolution Lely innovates from grass to glass In the cradle of a revolution A second lease of life for the milking robot Patent lawyers writing history “Don’t forget that the milking robot has only been around for 20 years.”

184 188 194 198 202 206

Publication details

212

1948 — LELY ESTABLISHED FOLLOWING THE INVENTION OF THE FINGER WHEEL RAKE

FOREWORD

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INSPIRATION!

“When I was young, milking was still one of the most time-consuming jobs on a dairy farm. My father and my uncle were convinced that automation could eliminate the physical and social pressure that milking at least twice a day placed on the livestock farmer and his family. Thanks to their inventiveness and commitment to coming up with a solution in collaboration with our organisation’s product developers, the first prototype of the milking robot saw the light of day in 1992. I am still grateful to the first livestock farmers who believed in this ground-breaking solution and had the guts to test the prototype in practice and to perfect it with us. Now, more than 20 years later, the milking robot is known as the invention of the 20th century. Thousands of dairy farmers the world over are milking more than a million cows with our milking robots. And meanwhile we have expanded our portfolio with many other products and services which save time, money and energy. Because I am convinced that efficiency and sustainability are the keys to a successful future in the dairy sector.

From labourer to manager With the arrival of the milking robot and other robotic products, the livestock farmer’s job description has undergone an enormous transformation. The automation of labour-intensive tasks has given livestock farmers the opportunity to develop into entrepreneurs and managers. The freedom and flexibility that this brings with it deliver enormous benefits for their families and their social environment.

From grass to glass Since our business was launched in 1948, we have also been helping livestock farmers get the best possible returns from their land. With our wide range of forage harvesting machines, everyone can improve the nutritional value of their harvest.

1958 — DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF THE LELY SINGLE DISK SPREADER

1958 — ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

Knowledge in which we invest a great deal of money every year to keep supporting livestock farmers in the best way we can. In addition, the information from the milking robot and the automated feeding system enables you to better control the efficiency of the feed and therefore the choice of crop, resulting in the best possible ration composition.

The Anniversary Book To mark the 20th anniversary of the Lely Astronaut milking robot, we invited farmers from all over the world to tell us about the challenges they face and opportunities they see and seize. Having automated labour-intensive tasks such as milking, feeding and cleaning the barns, they now have the time and the flexibility to make their ambitions in terms of entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility and personal development come true. These ambitions and the successes they bring with them differ from one farmer to the next, but they all have one thing in common: they love their cows and have an entrepreneurial mentality. The stories from these entrepreneurs, their workers and family members inspire us to keep doing what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re good at: building a sustainable, profitable and enjoyable future in the agricultural sector. So we have great pleasure in sharing their stories with you.â&#x20AC;?

Alexander van der Lely CEO Lely Group

PRODUCTIVE 24/7

Demographic and economic developments are challenging livestock farmers to use every single hour of the day as efficiently as possible — for producing milk and meat, but also for any other activities they do in order to broaden their income base. They also have an increasing need for time to spend with the family and on social activities. Lely offers a solution to this conflict by automating labour-intensive processes in dairy farming. Ever since Lely launched the Astronaut milking robot in 1992, entrepreneurial livestock farmers have been making more profit with less effort. For milking, feeding and cleaning, Lely offers unparalleled and highly efficient workers like the Lely Astronaut, the Lely Vector, the Lely Juno and the Lely Discovery. And the livestock farmer? He is swapping his labourer’s cap for a manager’s hat, giving him the freedom and flexibility to achieve his ideal work/life balance.

1958 — ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

FARMER TIMO JOOSTEN / FRANCE

I am always swapping hats:

livestock farmer, father, manager at Lely and manager of an equipment cooperative, local councillor... 24/7 is part of who I am.

HOLSTEIN SCL COMPASS, FRANCE

AMPOIGNÉ ---WS: 120 NUMBER OF CO 2007 T A3, 2X SINCE LELY ASTRONAU IN TE LS HO D: BREE Y: 2.4 LKINGS PER DA NUMBER OF MI 1 FTE S: EE OY PL EM NUMBER OF CTARES: 140 NUMBER OF HE

How can you combine your daily responsibility for 120 dairy cows with three other jobs and a family with three children? It wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen without automation. Or without an entrepreneurial spirit, a get-up-and-go mentality and the right people around you. Timo Joosten, Project Manager Customer Sales Support at Lely Industries and livestock farmer in France, knows all about it. His modern Serrestal cow lounge in Mayenne is almost fully automated and has been described as a five-star hotel for cows. It enables him to divide all his time perfectly between family, cows, colleagues, neighbours and friends â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and not forgetting himself, of course.

Getting to know dairy farming

Dutch born Timo Joosten has been around cows ever since he was a young boy. His grandfather had a dairy farm in the province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands, and in the school holidays Timo, who grew up in Blaricum near Amsterdam, would go and stay with his grandparents. When he was young the farm was taken over by an uncle and aunt who also brought turkeys onto the farm. When Timo left secondary school he went to agricultural college (the Van Hall Institute) in Leeuwarden, (North Netherlands), living with his uncle and aunt to begin with. During his final year, his uncle and aunt decided to stop farming dairy cows. As a result, Timoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest

I KEPT DREAMING ABOUT HAVING MY OWN FARM, IDEALLY IN FRANCE WHERE THERE’S STILL PLENTY OF SPACE 21

in the farm began to wane and he spent his final year in rooms in Leeuwarden. He obtained his Masters in Agribusiness (a collaboration between Van Hall and the University of Greenwich) and joined Lely as a management assistant to work on developing the Lely Center concept.

Mieke, an occupational therapist from Amsterdam, moved to France, where he got a job as a manager on a French farm. “We gave ourselves a good year to integrate; we wanted to learn French and discover for ourselves what it was like to run a dairy farm in France,” says Timo.

Dreaming of the French countryside

A dream comes true

Although he enjoyed working for Lely, he always dreamt of owning his own farm, ideally in France. There’s plenty of space there to start your own farm, he mused, and it’s not too far away from the family in the Netherlands. A reorganisation at Lely gave him the final push. On his 24th birthday he and his wife

The try-out was a success, and Timo and Mieke started looking for a place of their own. They looked at farms all over France. Finally, in 2003 they chose an old farm in Ampoigné in the département of Mayenne in the Pays de la Loire region. The 100 hectares of land were first class, the quota was

THE FRENCH PRESS DESCRIBE THE BARN AS A FIVE-STAR HOTEL FOR COWS

450,000 litres for 55 cows, but the barns were old. They decided to buy the farm, and after a threemonth hand-over period the former owner left and their adventure began for real. In 2006 they had the opportunity to buy up a neighbouring farm. This farm had 40 hectares of land and had a quota of 380,000 litres for 45 cows. They set up the Compass Holstein dairy farm, a limited company in which they consolidated the milk quota. By now they were spending more than 6 hours a day milking. They had a good herd of cows and a matching quota. But the next challenge was just around the corner. They were still not meeting the manure standards and needed new barns. They also wanted to make some immediate efficiency savings by automating. This would modernise the farm and give them the flexibility they needed to be able to start a family. After investigating different kinds of barns they decided to opt for the Serrestal. The natural light and the light-weight design greatly appealed to Timo. “We drew up our own plan and looked for a superstructure that would work with it. The result was a rectangular 38 x 36 m barn which was built between August 2006 and February 2007. In April 2007 we took delivery of two Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots to milk our 100 Holstein cows automatically,” Timo says proudly. In June 2007 they joined forces with neighbour Christophe Chevalier. Together they produced more than one million litres of milk in 2007 alone, and Timo, Mieke and Christophe had the potential

to expand the herd even further from 120 to 140 in the future. All their milk is processed into cheese products by Fromageries Perreault (Bongrain).

Dream farm

Although Timo spent a lot of time investigating different kinds of barns, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind when it came to choosing the milking robot system. Timo: “I knew too much about the shortcomings of other robots.” The farm open days on 10 and 11 October 2007, which they organised in cooperation with the Lely Center, attracted as many as 6,000 visitors. The regional, national and even international press were out in force, and Timo and Mieke found themselves at the centre of media attention. They were on the 13.00 news broadcast on TF1, one of France’s most popular TV channels at lunchtime. Canal+, I-télé, Web-TV and the regional channel France 3 all provided in-depth coverage of Timo’s and Mieke’s farm, as did the trade journals PLM, France Agricole and the regional publication Avenir Agricole. Not only were the largescale automation and the barn design a rarity in France, but a herd of this size was also still relatively unknown. Small-scale farming reigns supreme in the French countryside. Timo and Mieke were praised for their strategic approach: automating and optimising as many daily tasks as possible, always prioritising the welfare of the animals, and leaving enough time for other business and social activities.

Five-star hotel for cows

LELY IS SIMPLY THE BEST IN THE MILKING ROBOT WORLD

The Dutch-manufactured Serrestal is described in the French press as a five-star hotel for cows. One hundred and twenty cow cubicles, two Lely Luna cow brushes, two Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots, a

Lely Discovery barn cleaner, a buffer tank and pre-cooler ensure high quality animal welfare and optimise operational efficiency. A fully automated lighting system (Lely L4C) equipped with sensors monitors the amount of daylight and adjusts the barn lighting accordingly. This ensures that the cows have the best possible day and night rhythm and saves energy as well. The climate-controlled curtains on the north and south sides of the barn open fully in sunny weather, keeping the barn temperature at an optimum level. After all, if the cows get too hot their feed intake and general comfort can suffer.

Time on his hands

You’d think that looking after more than 100 cows and supervising the new building project would have taken up every last minute of Timo’s time. But nothing could be further from the truth. Well before the new automated Serrestal cow lounge was completed, Timo joined the board of a large

local equipment cooperative. This cooperative buys new equipment for its members to share. As the cooperative’s HR manager, from 2005 Timo was responsible for five permanent employees and still works there about four half-days per month today. In 2008 he was elected to the 11-strong council of the small but dynamic town of around 600 inhabitants. In a project group he was given joint responsibility for water treatment, the road network and new buildings in the community. That same year he started offering internships on his farm for training new Lely Center sales advisors. Meanwhile he has also remained in touch with his former managers at Lely Industries. Alongside the internships, he wanted to continue to play a role for Lely on a project basis since he missed the interaction with his colleagues. So in 2011 he took on a Customer Sales Support role. He works three days a week for Lely on average, mainly from home. He also travels regularly to the Lely head office in the Netherlands and the various Lely Service Organisations. The day-to-day running of the farm is in the capable hands of his wife Mieke. They also have a full-time farm worker. After all, their three children (Björn (5), Nikki (3) and 8-month-old Stan) still need to be taken care of!

Dairy farmer or manager with cows

Timo recognises himself in both descriptions, but he is focusing increasingly on his work as a manager. In that respect Timo is in complete agreement with the Lely philosophy. The Lely Astronaut milking robots have made their operations more flexible and better structured. So Mieke and their farm worker can manage the farm without any problems when Timo is away from home – whether he is managing at the

equipment cooperative, attending a council meeting or on the road for Lely. And wherever in the world he happens to be, he can log in to the Astronaut A3 milking robots’ computers.

Family time

Timo starts the day at 6.30 am with an inspection of the barn. At 8 am he has breakfast with his wife and children. After taking his eldest two to school, it’s time to run through the schedule for the day with his farm worker. Then he drops into his office or goes out on the road. When he is working from home, he likes to make time for lunch with his wife. And he always tries to eat dinner with his wife and children at around 7 pm. The farm worker stops work at 6.30 pm, and when the children have gone to bed Timo checks the barn again.

Is there a future for dairy farming in France?

As a modern livestock farmer, Timo worries about the future of dairy farming in France. Like many other countries, France is currently facing issues with succession. What will happen when the current generation of livestock farmers retires? Today’s young people are no longer interested in life on the farm. “You need a lot of motivation, drive and know-how to manage a modern dairy farm; that is

WE HAVE A GOOD LIFE HERE BUT WE STILL MISS OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN THE NETHERLANDS

true now and it will be no different in the future. More attention should be paid to this in agricultural training so that young people are inspired and motivated. Some do have the right drive, but they are few and far between,” says Timo. In addition, the French government has for many years blocked attempts to upscale in response to the public’s desire to keep the French countryside populated with small farms. “But there are still plenty of opportunities for a healthy future,” Timo believes. “There is an abundance of land, the infrastructure is good and France is the home base for some world players in the dairy produce market. Time and space to change will play a key role in the future of French livestock farmers. If they wait too long to make the efficiency savings they so urgently need, their northern neighbours will leave them standing.”

IN FRANCE, THE QUESTION ON EVERYONE’S LIPS IS: WHO IS GOING TO RUN OUR FARMS IN THE FUTURE?

FRESH RATIONS FOR EVERY COW EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY To keep their farms profitable, more and more livestock farmers are having to increase the efficiency of labour-intensive work like milking and feeding and reduce their operating costs. In addition, the present generation of livestock farmers has a growing need for more flexible working hours: a flexible daily routine that leaves time for the family, relaxation and, in some cases, other work. Over the past 20 years, the milking robot has triggered a revolution in labour efficiency and productivity growth. The launch of the Lely Vector automatic feeding system marks another great leap forward. The benefit of combining the Lely Astronaut with the Lely Vector was illustrated perfectly during a visit to the Swedish farm Trägsta Mjölkgård.

30 Just outside Hallen, a small town in the Swedish province of Jämtland, lies Trägsta Mjölkgård, a modern dairy farm with 120 cows. The cows on this farm have been milked with two Lely Astronaut A3 robots since May 2009. Before the arrival of the milking robots, milking was taking four to five hours a day, seven days a week. This took a heavy toll on the shoulders and elbows of dairy farmer Torgny Widholm and his wife Eva. Fetching and distributing the feed also took around two to three hours a day. Not surprisingly, working days lasting from 6 am to 11 pm were the rule rather than the exception. Thanks to the Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots and the arrival of the Lely Vector in February 2012, their working day now often ends as early as 4 pm, with a final check of the barn at 7 pm. “In winter we now have time to go skiing or get out the snow scooters. Last summer we went sailing and fishing on a nearby lake. It is our four grandchildren

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY AUSTRALIA ------ NAME AND ADDRESS MAX & EVELYN WARREN TOONGABBIE ROAD WINNINDOO, EAST GIPPSLAND VICTORIA ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 100 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS FOUR LELY ASTRONAUT A3 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 300 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 6,600 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING 2001 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Management has become more efficient and the physical strain of the work is less now. Biggest change for the cows: The robot helps the cows to get the best out of themselves. Lameness has diminished enormously since the cows are no longer chased to the milking parlour. Biggest change for the family: Max can stay at home at times when other dairy farmers are absorbed by conventional milking. Max and Evelyn enjoy being grandparents and they like to spend time on their hobbies. A day in the life: “An average day starts with staking out the paddocks. Then we check Lely T4C, take care of the high-attention cows and clean the yard and the robot areas. We repeat that routine in the evening. Depending upon the season, we need to irrigate or ensure additional feeding with silage or hay. Since we practise 100% pasture grazing, we have no time-consuming daily tasks such as feeding the animals and discharging manure. That makes our business highly labour-effective. Even after 11 years of automated milking, we are still happy to see a smile on the face of visitors when they find out that the cows are milked by robots.”

who are benefiting most from all this extra free time; our eight children often used to have to fend for themselves,” says proud grandfather Torgny. Automation will make it much easier and much more attractive for the future generation to take over the farm, Torgny and Eva Widholm are convinced.

Group feeding The Trägsta barn is divided into different groups: dairy cows, dry cows, a group that has just calved, and calves in various age groups. The Lely Vector system mixes fresh, well-balanced portions of rations for each group. “The dry cows get a ration with a lot of straw which they have to chew thoroughly. The nutritional value is relatively low. This stimulates the rumen and allows the rumen contents to develop so that the cow can take in more feed after calving. You should not feed a cow too much when she’s ‘on holiday’, as that could damage her liver,” says Torgny. He adds: “Since we started grouping the animals we have noticed that they are much healthier. Before that we had more cases of milk fever. Also, the atmosphere among the cows has been more relaxed and harmonious since we stopped having them all at the feed fence at the same time.”

More milkings “Since my cows started getting a fresh portion at the feed fence several times a day, they have been more active. That has resulted in more milkings per cow and less work for me, because there are fewer high-attention cows,” Torgny says. “In the covered feed kitchen I have silage from the first harvest – that’s the basis for my ‘dynamite feed’, specially formulated for the dairy cows. This is mixed with one-third chopped, ensiled barley grains and broad beans and enriched with salt, minerals and calcium. Straw gives the ration an extra kick. It stimulates rumination, which has a positive impact on the fat content of the milk. The cows are also given organic concentrate in the milking robots: a mixture of ground grains and broad beans.” Torgny’s milk yield is 30 litres per cow per day and only drops to 26 litres per day during the summer. As a Swedish stock farmer, Torgny is required to graze his cows in summer by law. The average fat content at Trägsta Mjölkgård is 4.10%, with 3.30% protein.

1965 — LELY LOTUS HOOK-SHAPED TINE LAUNCHED

• LABOUR SAVINGS: 600 HOURS • FUEL SAVINGS: 6,000 LITRES OF DIESEL

• MILK PRODUCTION: 26-30 LITRES OF MILK PER DAY

• NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS: 120

32 • DRY MATTER INTAKE: 21.35 KG PER DAY • FEED EFFICIENCY: 1.26

• THE FEED KITCHEN STORE-CUPBOARD: GRASS SILAGE, GRAINS, BARLEY, BROAD BEANS, STRAW, SALT, MINERALS AND CALCIUM

Severe temperatures For four months of the year it is deepest winter in Jämtland, with temperatures as low as -35° C. Even the temperature in the barn drops to around -15°C. “But that doesn’t bother the feed grabber or the mixing and feeding robot. They just keep on working, no matter how cold it gets,” Torgny laughs.

Low operating costs “Before we decided to buy a Lely Vector, I sat down and did a lot of sums. With this automati mixing and feeding system I’m saving around 600 man-hours and around 6000 litres of diesel a year. That’s a lot, even with such an energyefficient piece of kit as the Lely Vector. But that’s not all. The rations are topped up with fresh feed all day long, so my cows stay healthy and productive, bringing us higher returns and saving money on vet bills. There is also much less feed left over, so I save on feed costs. The whole herd performs better, especially the lower-ranking animals,” says a very satisfied Torgny. The next cost-saving project that chimes with their organic strategy is already in the pipeline: Torgny and Eva want to build a biogas plant.

BOTH DAIRY FARMER AND COW APPRECIATE THE 24/7 APPROACH “By automating the barn you can produce more kilograms of milk per labourer in much more sociable working conditions.” Kees Baan, a dairy farmer in Molenaarsgraaf, The Netherlands, in the south of the Netherlands started robotic milking in 2009. Coinciding with the arrival of two Lely Astronaut A3 Next milking robots, Kees became a test farmer for the Lely Juno 100 feed pusher. This was replaced in 2011 with the test version of the Lely Vector automatic feeding system. Now that just about all the day-to-day work in his barn is automated, we asked Kees Baan what 24/7 means in practical terms for the dairy farmer and his cows.

Between 1998 and 2012 the number of dairy cows and cows in calf on the Baan family farm increased from 60 to 130. “That meant I was ultimately spending around five hours a day milking and at least an hour a day feeding in my 2x7 herringbone parlour. Not to mention cleaning the cubicles, working the land, and all the paperwork... so I really needed another pair of hands,” says Kees. To begin with, he hired a self-employed farm worker but kept thinking about a more structural solution.

Automation ideal for family farms “I was faced with a choice: do I automate, so I can keep running the farm on my own, or do I take on staff? I went for automation because I wanted to preserve the family-run nature of the farm.” And that proved to be a good choice, because Kees is still running the farm on his own – ably assisted by his wife and four children. He only hires outside help for field work at peak times. “Now that the children are starting to help, I even have time to work elsewhere,” laughs Kees.

1968 — DEVELOPMENT OF THE LELYTERRA POWER HARROW

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY BELGIUM ------ NAME AND ADDRESS JAN BRUGHMANS MEIRENWEG 25 2990 LOENHOUT ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 55 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS TWO LELY ASTRONAUT A3 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 100 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 9,000 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING OCTOBER 1994, WITH A LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Jan Brughmans opted for the freedom and flexibility of robotic milking right from the word go. Jan is a groundwork contractor. Biggest change for the cows: Before the introduction of the milking robot, the Belgian White Blue meat and dairy cows yielded 6,000 litres of milk. They are now producing 9,000 litres of milk per year. Biggest change for the family: They now have freedom and flexibility for other activities outside the dairy business; the milking robot and a hired-in worker look after of the cattle. A day in the life: “I have a freelance worker who looks after the cattle. He starts checking the attention lists and looking after any high-attention cows and the young livestock at 6 am. Inseminating and feeding are also part of his routine tasks. At 9 am he gets on with other jobs, either in the barn or for my contracting business, or sometimes his own work. He repeats his morning routine between 5 and 7 pm.”

Flexibility is becoming a social criterion With the robots milking and feeding 24/7, it now only takes Kees three hours to complete his tasks in the barn. These include checking that the Lely T4C management system is linked to the robots, looking after high-attention cows, and keeping the barn clean. “You should automate as many of your routine tasks as possible; that’s where you’ll see the greatest gains,” Kees believes. “Then you can organise your own time properly and you’re free to step in when other things need your attention.” Flexibility is increasingly seen as a given in our present-day society. With the growth of the 24-hour economy in which everything and everyone is available at virtually any time of the day and night, we increasingly expect other people to be flexible. Kees explains: “We are in a kind of social club with a lot of friends who come from a farming background, although not all of them have their own farms. Recently they put on a barbecue at 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon. That wasn’t a problem for us with our robots. But for some of our friends who are still milking conventionally, 5 pm is a difficult time. It’s typical of today’s society that this kind of thing isn’t taken into account.”

Livestock farmer and cow can look forward to a healthier old age “Since I have had the robots, the children have been able to help out more: on the one hand they are getting older and bigger, and on the other hand the work in the barn is less taxing. But the other side of the coin is that as a livestock farmer you have to do a lot more thinking and number-crunching. It’s a question of learning, building up a database and listening to other users. That’s time-consuming, especially to begin with, but it also saves time,” Kees reflects. The Lely T4C management system enables the dairy farmer to measure milk yields and fat and protein contents. By monitoring health and reproduction, you can identify and treat sick and pregnant cows earlier, which will impact positively on total milk yields. Asked whether his milk production is up significantly since he started using the milking robots, Kees answers: “Whether your production increases depends on how you were doing in the conventional system. If you were not getting the maximum out of your cows, you will see a bigger difference than if you were already doing well and your automation simply adjusts your processes. I do notice a difference, yes, but not as much as someone in the first situation.”

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

Peace and quiet in the barn Milking and feeding robots allow the cows to live according to their natural rhythm. Most cows cope with the transition from the conventional system to the 24/7 rhythm quite well. Only cows used to the routine of being milked twice a day for years sometimes find it hard to adjust to the new freedom. Just as older employees in a company can find a change of culture hard to deal with. Kees explains: “I have had to say goodbye to a number of old cows. Ultimately we lose them through natural selection. The new intake takes to the 24/7 system straight away.”

No more peaks

In the conventional milking and feeding system, lower-ranking animals automatically come off worst. “Since we have done away with peak times, the herd has been much more peaceful because the animals don’t need to jostle and fight. With the Vector doing its rounds 11 times a day, the feed fence is never completely full now, so my lower-ranking cows get fresh feed more often and faster. If a dominant cow was at the front of the queue the first five times, she won’t need to be top dog the sixth time. Although when the Vector’s sliding door opens, you’ll always see a number of cows reacting straight away and heading for the feed fence. You get the same situation with the milking robots; when the cows see that they are empty, they get going. So the cows need to be able to see the robot from all angles, even from a distance of 30 metres.” “Since I have been using the Lely Vector, I have not been getting any more heat forming at the feed fence and the feed is much fresher and tastier. In the old system with the feed mixer wagon, I had to feed the animals a lot to maximise production. Now I can give them portions measured out down to the last gram. The ration at the feed fence, a mixture of silage, brewer’s grains and potato pulp, is still the same, but the composition is much more consistent and the ratios are more constant. The Lely Vector generally does a complete circuit of the barn once an hour to push feed and monitor the feed level. If the level falls below 20 cm, it automatically fetches one or more 450 kg batches of fresh feed.” Kees cleans out the feed alleys twice a week, and gives any remaining rations to the dry cows and the calves. In the milking robot he uses two different kinds of

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY CANADA ------ NAME AND ADDRESS OLSPANK FARMS JAN & CHRIS KAPPERS ONTARIO / OXFORD COUNTY ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 300 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS THREE LELY ASTRONAUT A4 (SINDS FEBRUARI 2011) ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 160 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 10,625 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING DECEMBER 1999, WITH A LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ROBOT ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Thanks to the milking robots, it only takes two people to run the business with 160 dairy cows and 315 head of dry cows and young livestock. Biggest change for the cows: The cows are healthier and they are less bothered by stress. Biggest change for the family: The family members have more time to spend together. A day in the life: “We get up at 6.30 am. In the barn we first check all the cows. We establish which cows are in heat and need to be inseminated, and which cows are about to go into labour. At around 8 am it is time for breakfast. At 9 am we distribute the fresh feed so that we can treat sick cows, clean the barn and go out in the fields at around 10.30 am. At 5 pm it’s time to check on the cows again and from 6.30 pm it’s family time.”

• HERD: 130 DAIRY COWS AND COWS IN CALF • 100 CALVES

• PRODUCTION: 9,000 LITRES OF MILK

• QUOTA: 1,160,000 LITRES

• 2.7 MILKINGS

• 88 HECTARES

PIONIERS IN ROBOTMELKEN

concentrate: pellets used for enticement (cheap and very attractive) and normal production pellets. In the concentrate station he uses high performance pellets to give the cows an extra energy boost in the first 80 days of lactation.

Upping efficiency “Automation has enabled me to become much more efficient. With the Lely T4C management system for the milking robots I can focus much better on individual cow management and milk production. There is even a smartphone app for the Lely Vector which I can use to adjust the ration,” Kees says. He adds that it is essential to draw up protocols when you are working with automation, so that family members and helpers know how to work the robots.

Energy-efficient milking and feeding

Automation also saves energy, and that is something Kees has already noticed. “The energy savings you get from the Lely Vector are its biggest advantage over other feeding methods. We used to use a mixed feed trailer, but this new system is much cheaper to run. I sat down and compared all the annual costs for both systems, and I was particularly surprised to see how much energy we were saving. I have 60 solar panels on the roof of the feed kitchen. This gives us twice as much power as the Vector actually needs! We use the rest on the farm.”

Conclusion “Automation is contagious: once we started, going back to our old ways was all but unthinkable, especially when it comes to those time-consuming daily tasks. The pace at which you automate naturally depends on the investment opportunities and the condition of the machines you currently have on the farm,” Kees says.

24/7 IN ESTONIA: THE ADVENT OF LARGE-SCALE DAIRY FARMING Estonia currently has more than 100 large-scale dairy farms with herds ranging from 300 to 2000 cows. It has considerably more large-scale dairy farms than its Baltic and Scandinavian neighbours. The average milk production per cow has risen by more than 50% in the last 10 years. Better feeding and a better quality breeding programme have played a key role in this. But the greatest gain comes from the rapid increase in automation in the dairy farming sector. How does this work on a modern farm producing 24/7? Together with Viljar Soots, service manager at the Lely Center in Mäo, we visited a young large-scale dairy farm where robots and humans are seeking a new balance.

40 When Estonia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, many large collective dairy farms were returned to their former owners as the dairy sector was privatised. Herds were divided up between anything up to several hundred small owners who had to survive in the new market economy with just a handful of cows each. The consequences were all too clear: many dairy farms were unprofitable and farmers had to look for other sources of income. Milk production in Estonia dropped dramatically. From 1994 onwards the market economy and the attractive investment climate began to attract foreign investors. Large-scale, foreign-owned dairy farms shot up like mushrooms all over the place. One example of just such an investment project is AS Peetri Põld ja Piim, a large dairy farm about 90 minutes’ drive from Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The farm is owned by a Russian investor from Moscow. As co-owner of Tallinna Äripank (Tallinn Business Bank) in Estonia, he convinced his bank to lend him the money to

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY CYPRUS ------ NAME AND ADDRESS KOULOUMPRIS FARM LTD DALI NICOSIA ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 40 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS ONE LELY ASTRONAUT A3 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 80 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 10,000 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING FEBRUARY 2009 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: The ease with which the business can now be run by two rather than four farm workers. The dairy farmer also keeps goats for the production of halloumi, a typical Cypriot cheese speciality. Biggest change for the cows: It is clear from the visiting behaviour of the cows that they like being milked by the robot. Biggest change for the family: The dairy farmer can spend more time with his family and friends. He even helps around the house now. A day in the life: “At 6 am we start by checking the Lely T4C program. Then I guide any late cows to the robot and separate off sick cows for treatment. At around 7 am we feed the calves. Meanwhile, we prepare the rations for the cows and distribute the roughage along the feed fences. Then we inspect and clean the milking robot. This daily routine takes us two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. At the end of the day I draw up a report that includes data on the robot and cows. The milking robot has changed both my dairy business and my family life dramatically.”

build this large-scale dairy farm. Two years ago there were four old farms spread across the 2000 hectare site. They have since been demolished and replaced with three modern barns with a total area of four hectares. Day-to-day operations are overseen by farm manager Priit Süüden and herd manager Marko Sildnik.

17 Lely Astronaut A4 robots In two modern cubicle barns, 16 Lely Astronaut A4 robots milk about 1000 Holstein dairy cows round the clock. The middle barn is divided up into areas for calves, dry cows and calved cows and houses the 17th Lely Astronaut A4 milking robot. An automatic feed mixer shares out the ration of chopped grass, whole plant silage and chopped sunflowers between the feed alleys twice a day, and two Lely Juno feed pushers keep the ration within the cows’ reach. The Lely Discovery barn cleaner and the Lely Luna cow brushes are also in operation 24/7.

Interplay between man and robot Marko (33) is the herd manager and has been working for this owner for nine years. Having grown up in Tallinn, after leaving secondary school he went to Tartu, a university town in the south of the country, where he studied Animal Science at the University of Life Sciences. He now leads a team of seven stockpeople, a vet and an inseminator. The team of mainly female stockpeople spends much of the day cleaning in and around the barn, despite the automatic help provided by a Lely Discovery barn cleaner and conventional manure pushers. New-born calves are weaned by hand. Once the calves can drink independently after a few days, three Lely Calm automatic calf feeders take over the weaning. Only dry cows are put out to graze on the nearby grassland. Marko says that he will soon have to recruit five or six more workers to keep on top of caring for the animals and the barns. Asked to describe his daily routine, he says: “My working hours and working days differ. But I always get here early to start my daily routine. Sometimes I stay until early evening, and sometimes I go home in the afternoon and come back again in the evening. I work a five-day week but I don’t really have a hard-and-fast routine. The vet manages the staff when I

1983 — SPLENDIMO MODULAR CUTTER BAR SYSTEM INTRODUCED

• 2,8 MILKINGS AND 1,2 REFUSALS PER DAY

• LELY DISCOVERY MOBILE BARN CLEANER AND LELY LUNA COW BRUSH

• TWO LELY JUNO FEED PUSHERS

42 • 17 LELY ASTRONAUT A4 ROBOTS

• 1.000 HOLSTEIN DAIRY COWS

am not here.” When asked what his nearest and dearest think of his flexible daily routine, he laughs bashfully: “I am still single.”

The issues of the day As farm manager, Priit Süüden has ultimate responsibility for operations on the farm. He doesn’t get involved with the herd but is responsible for purchasing and sales, admin, personnel management and reporting to the owner. After graduating in Rural Economy from the University of Tartu, he has managed various farms since 1994, spending the last four years here in Peetri. Most of the employees on the farm came to work here straight from secondary school. Jobs are decided on an ad-hoc basis; they do not yet work to standard operating procedures or strict planning. However, Priit tries to encourage the workers to work independently, report any problems promptly and resolve them themselves. “That’s not always easy,” he says. “First I try and motivate them, and if that doesn’t work they will ultimately forfeit some of their bonus.” Fortunately, the milking robots handle many of the reporting and care functions. That this benefits the cows’ health can be seen by the dramatic drop in the number of mastitis cases.

Milk more profitable 600 kilometres away With 2.8 milkings and 1.2 rejections per day, the farm’s milk production is currently 30.7 litres per cow per day. It has a milk quota of 5.5 million, but they are still well below that. Their milk is collected daily and transported by tanker to a dairy factory in Lithuania, some 600 km south of Peetri, where milk fetches a better price than in Estonia.

More quantity thanks to quality Farm manager Priit and herd manager Marko are confident that production on this relatively young farm will increase in the years ahead. There are no set volume targets. To increase production, Marko wants to work on improving the feeding quality. “With better fertilisation and a different mowing method, we could give our cows younger grass with more fibre. In the future we are also looking to produce more cows with higher potential by using semen from bulls that have proven themselves by siring good daughters.

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

We will also need to buy in some calves,” says Marco. A separate barn for heifers, renovating the feed store and replacing a number of agricultural vehicles are also on the wish list. The agricultural sector has traditionally been a major employer in Estonia, and lower-skilled workers are relatively cheap. Nevertheless, herd manager Marko anticipates a rapid rise in the number of milking robots in Estonia. “Young people are no longer interested in the kind of hard work a dairy farm entails. The milking robot also has a positive impact on the health of the cows and therefore on production.”

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY DENMARK ------ NAME AND ADDRESS MEINARD & MONIQUE VAN SONSBEEK HORNSGÅRDVEJ 1 6510 GRAM ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 135 (OF WHICH THEY OWN 92) ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS THREE LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 150 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 9,335 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING SEPTEMBER 1998 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Thanks to the robots, we have been able to expand our business without taking on extra manpower. Biggest change for the cows: The cows have become much calmer. Biggest change for the family: Since we have had the milking robot we have been able to eat meals together again – and on time! A day in the life: “We get up an hour later than we used to. In the mornings and evenings we only fetch the cows that have not visited the robot for more than 12 hours. When these cows are held between two gates to be milked, we feed the calves. In the evening we distribute the rations in the feed alleys. The robotic barn cleaner clears the manure. We have automated our business to such an extent that one person can run it. We do most of the field work ourselves as well: ensiling grass, ploughing etc. We also grow grass, maize and cereals. We have been milking with the robot for so long now that we could not do without it.”

• INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

• IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION

• INCREASED FEED INTAKE

• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN

ANIMAL WELFARE

Animal welfare is all about quality of life. Key to this are five freedoms: freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from fear and distress. Livestock farmers who combine robotic milking with free cow traffic guarantee these five freedoms and will therefore get the best out of their herd. The cows decide for themselves when to eat, when to ruminate and when to rest, and they visit the milking robot in their own natural rhythm. This has a calming effect and makes the cows more active, healthier and more productive. It also enables the livestock farmer to devote more of his valuable time to cows that need special care and attention. “Management by exception” is the new challenge.

1958 — ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

FLOCK MANAGER JIM PETRIE / SCOTLAND

Happy cows are crucial for our success; they produce the fresh milk and cream that make Mackie’s ice cream so special.

MACKIE’S

SCOTLAND WESTERTOWN, ---IRY COWS: 400 NUMBER OF DA , 8X SINCE 2000 A2 T AU ON TR D LELY AS Y, SWEDISH AN SE JER IN, TE LS BREED: HO D-AND-WHITE RE IAN EG RW NO Y: 2.80 LKINGS PER DA NUMBER OF MI AFF: 5 FTE ST OF ER MB NU CTARES: 1,600 NUMBER OF HE .CO.UK WWW.MACKIES

An afternoon spent touring the Mackie family’s dairy farm and the adjacent ice cream factory in northern Scotland is enough to tell anyone that this is not just a meaningless marketing slogan. The cows radiate calm and the workers are happy. What is more, the family is committed to making Mackie’s the greenest company in Britain. Wind turbines, solar panels and a slurry lagoon bear silent witness to this. The dairy farm is famous for being run in an animal-friendly way. The ice cream’s unique flavour and profile make Mackie’s ice cream a firm favourite both at home and abroad. No wonder, then, that the estate is a popular destination for visitors from the agricultural, catering and retail sectors.

At Mackie’s in Aberdeenshire, the milk and cream from more than 400 dairy cows are made into speciality ice cream. Herd manager Jim Petrie takes us round the 1,600 hectare Mackie family estate. We are not the first visitors to arrive that day, he lets slip. “This morning I have already had a photo shoot for a press release. I won the David Argo Award 2012, you see,” he says proudly. This annual Royal Northern Agricultural Society award honours the unsung heroes of Scottish agriculture. In the jury’s report Jim Petrie was praised for his passion and commitment to the Mackie family’s dairy farm, where much has changed during the 33 years he has worked there.

TODAY THE 70-STRONG WORKFORCE PRODUCE MORE THAN 10 MILLION LITRES OF ICE CREAM EVERY YEAR

Lely Astronaut milking robot passes the test with flying colours

The biggest change in Jimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career was the arrival of the first Lely Astronaut A2 milking robot in 2001. It was to be trialled to establish whether it would be worthwhile investing in automating the milking process. Jim selected his 50 best Jerseys, whose milk production rose by 25% with the automated system. In a second trial group, production increased by 15%. This convinced the management to invest in a new barn with eight more Astronaut A2 milking robots. These Astronaut A2 robots are now twelve years old. With a thorough overhaul in 2007 and with new

lasers for faster udder status detection (the Lely TDS system), they are still working perfectly. Jim is very happy. The milking robots have given him flexibility and freed up time.

Peace, space and routine

Via a system of gangways, visitors can gain a good impression of the modern barn in which nothing has been left to chance: space and clean feed and manure alleys, comfortable cubicles, plenty of skylights admitting natural daylight and a ventilation system above every section. The barn is divided into seven sections, each of which has 54 cubicles and a milking

robot. The cows stand and feed calmly at the feed fence or lie ruminating away contentedly in the strawcovered cubicles. It is a peaceful scene that Jim Petrie is clearly very proud of. “Last week we had another 40 livestock farmers visiting from the Netherlands. They could not believe how well-organised and stress-free the farm is,” he beams. Meanwhile, the milking robots are attracting a lot of visitors. At present the barn only houses 82 original Jersey cows. With a fat content of 6%, their milk is ideal for ice cream production. The rest of the milk for the ice cream comes from 200 Holstein-Friesian cows and 132 Jerseys crossed with Swedish or Norwegian red-and-whites. Crossing the original Jersey cows with the Swedish and Norwegian red-and-whites increases both the milk production and the fat content.

More cows with less manpower

“Before we brought in the Lely Astronaut milking robots, we had 550 Jersey cows and I ran the barn with four workers. Now I run a herd of more than 400 dairy cows and almost 500 calves with just two assistants. And I have more spare time. Well, when I say free... my grandchildren want to see the cows, so I’ll still be back on the farm,” Jim jokes. He is due to retire next year. But stopping working is the last thing on his mind at the moment. He fancies turning his hand to something completely different in the agricultural sector.

Ration from the farm and the local distillery

Two workers take it in turns to ensure there is enough ration along the feed fences and in the milking robots. The dairy cows get a mixture of silage from the estate, distiller’s mash (made of crushed malt from which sugar solution is extracted for making whisky) and barley. The concentrate mixture consists of dark

grains, soya, sugar beet, crushed barley, mineral and pot ale syrup (a by-product of the first distillation phase in the production of malt whisky, which is rich in proteins, carbohydrates and yeast residues). The Lely Juno pushes the feed up 10 cm every two hours, so there is enough fresh feed in the feed alleys 24 hours a day. The 5% or so that is left over every day is fed to the calves the following day. Jim trims all the cows’ claws and de-hairs the udders himself. He often gets help from veterinary students who enjoy coming to Mackie’s for their internships. The photo albums and home-made postcards Jim has received by way of thanks bear witness to that!

Heifer rearer of the year

The calves are looked after by Heather Allan. Heather has been working for Mackie’s for 15 years and won the Regional Heifer Rearer of the Year award in 2011. “We leave a calf with her dam for up to 12 hours, before introducing her to accommodation in individual pens. I bottle feed her dam’s colostrum – up to two litres fed twice daily for the first two days. All colostrum is quality tested in advance and any surplus of high quality is frozen in two litre packs. It is used in particular for feeding to heifers’ calves,” says Heather. Each calf is introduced to a milk replacer, again from teated buckets, and that is specially formulated for fast frame growth. At two weeks of age they are relocated to straw bedded housing for up to 20 calves per group. The system features a computerised calf feeder offering the same formulation and fed at up to six litres per day according to breed of calf. “We introduced the system three years ago, and it has brought huge all round benefits. The calves no longer guzzle their milk so it reduces the opportunity for digestive upsets and being able to gradually wean

the Holstein heifers at eight weeks and Jerseys at 12 weeks, prevents any checks. It also makes for much better use of my day. I spend approximately 20 minutes every morning checking the system, to make sure all the calves have drunk their allocated amount in the last 24 hours, and also for drinking speed. I check every calf which has shown any signs of a slower rate; it gives me an early warning something’s not quite right. I’ve then more time left to actually observe the calves.”

The maiden heifers have their own farm

After a maximum of 12 weeks the calves go to a separate farm on the Mackie estate. They stay in the barn until they are at least one year old. Then the maiden heifers are let out to graze, season permitting. There are currently about 470 calves on the Mackie’s farm. That is enough to supplement the dairy cows from their own stock and allow their numbers to grow even further.

Dry cows and calves in the pasture

All the dry cows and calves can be found grazing the pastures on the estate between May and October. When Jim takes us for a drive in his pick-up round the various pastures and barns, the size of the 1600 hectare estate really becomes clear. There are groups of cows grazing away happily everywhere. And there are two bulls strutting about in between the ladies. Wherever Jim stops and gets out, he finds himself

surrounded by his ladies. After October the whole herd is taken inside the barn. Then it’s time for their 3,000-plus sheep to graze the fields ready for a new start in the spring.

Luxury ice cream, ice cubes and crisps

In 1986 the Mackie family opened an ice cream factory selling to the retail and catering trades. This was not their first venture into the supply chain. The family has been selling milk directly to the consumer since 1909. Besides their dairy cows, the family also has 2,000 pigs which are fed on the cream that is left over from the milk used to produce semi-skimmed milk. When the popularity of semi-skimmed milk started to rocket in 1986, Maitland Mackie, father of the current MD Mac Mackie, devised a plan to make more lucrative use of the cream instead of simply feeding it to the pigs. He started making ice cream from the leftover cream and the fresh milk from his own farm. It tasted good! In 1993 he converted an old barn and an adjacent mill into a modern ice cream factory. Today the staff of 70 produce more than 10 million litres of ice cream every year. 98% of the ice cream is sold in the UK, with the other 2% going to Ireland, Norway, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Since 2004, Mackie’s has also been making ice cubes from its own spring water. Customers in the shop can choose from six different ice cream flavours, with twelve on offer to the catering trade. The ice cream is 100% natural and is made from fresh milk and cream that literally comes from their own milk tank one door down. Managing Director Mac Mackie is very proud of their packaging line which presses one- and two-litre tubs from plastic granules and labels them. “We used to buy our tubs from Sweden, but now we produce them ourselves.

I SEE MY GRANDCHILDREN MORE OFTEN THAN I SAW MY OWN CHILDREN WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG

That cuts down on transport and fuel costs and helps us reduce our carbon footprint even further,â&#x20AC;? Mac Mackie says. In a joint venture with the arable farm Taypack, in 2009 Mackieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s launched a range of crisps made from local potatoes and with natural seasonings.

Fertilising their own soil

It is not only the cows that benefit from the residual products from the nearby whisky distillery. The grassland also does well from it. In a lagoon with a capacity of 20 million cubic litres, the slurry from the

barns is mixed with the residual liquid (the pot ale) from the first distillation of the local malt whisky and wastewater from the ice cream factory. The mixture, which contains 20% nitrogen, is an outstanding natural fertiliser for the grassland. Almost seven kilometres of underground pipes were laid to bring the waste flows together in the lagoon and spread the fertiliser on the fields.

100% green with wind turbines and solar panels The highest point on the hilly estate is home to the Mackie familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three wind turbines. At 45 metres

AFTER 6 PM IT’S TIME FOR THE FAMILY AND FOR A DRAM!

high, they mark out the estate from miles around. Together, “Mackie’s”, “Ice” and “Cream”, as they are known, supply 2,500 kW of power, of which 30% is used to power the ice cream factory, the offices and the various houses on the estate. The remaining 70% is exported to the National Grid. Another 1,000 kW wind turbine is being added to the collection in late 2012. The barn itself runs entirely on the 50 kW generated by the 680 solar panels on the roof. Following on from the wind turbines and the solar panels, the Mackies are now planning to install an anaerobic digester to recycle their manure.

From sky to scoop

The design chain process at Mackie’s starts with wind and ends up with scoops of ice cream. “We have wind turbines generating electricity, farm land growing crops, happy and healthy cows providing fresh milk and cream, and 70 staff to help combine all this to make ice cream, which is then sold to consumers in our own packaging, either via supermarkets or served in glasses and on plates in restaurants and scooping parlours.”

I HAVE ALREADY FORGOTTEN YOUR NAMES, BUT I KNOW EVERY COW HERE PERSONALLY, EVEN THOUGH THEY NO LONGER HAVE NAMES OF THEIR OWN

MILK PRODUCTION AND FAT CONTENT

Jerseys:

average 18.6 litres/day, 6% fat

Holstein-Friesians: 35 litres/day, 3.5% fat

Swedish and Norwegian red-and-white crosses: 28 litres/day, 4.5% fat

“SKY TO SCOOP”: EVERYTHING STARTS WITH WIND AND ENDS UP WITH SCOOPS OF ICE CREAM

HAPPY WITH LELY ASTRONAUT MILKING ROBOTS AND LELY ABC GRAZING SYSTEM “If you speak to a farmer in the village at around 3 pm and he barely has time to listen to you, then he doesn’t have a milking robot,” laughs John van Adrichem. John and Caroline van Adrichem, Australia, combine 100% grazing with robotic milking. Automatic milking has given them a lot of flexibility. They don’t have to hurry home in the afternoons to fetch the cows in and milk them. But it is not only John and Caroline who feel less stressed. Their cows are also thriving in the peaceful, relaxed atmosphere now that they can set their own pace. They are healthier, they supply more milk and they are more sociable towards each other.

64 When the children left home in 2007 and extra pairs of hands were hard to find, John and Caroline decided to take it easy for a while and sell their farm. They went back home to the Netherlands, which they left in 1997, for three weeks’ holiday, and while they were there they looked into automatic milking. Back at their home base in Tasmania off the south-east Australian coast, they built a new dairy farm.

The Lely ABC grazing system On the 97 hectare site in Togari they built a barn with two zones, one for “before milking” and one for “after milking”, with two Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots in the middle, and added a third Lely Astronaut A3 robot in July 2010. The 240 cows graze the pastures around the centrally located barn in accordance with the Lely ABC pasture grazing system. A first Lely Grazeway by the barn guides the cows into the “before milking” zone. After milking, a second Lely Grazeway directs

1992 — FIRST ASTRONAUT USERS AD AND GRETA VAN DEN BERG

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY GERMANY ------ NAME AND ADDRESS BERGHOF EG J. GÄRTNER BERGHOF 2 15859 RIEPLOS ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 490 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS FOUR LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 225 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 9,275 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING NOVEMBER 1997 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Working hours are flexible now, which has made our labour management much easier. Biggest change for the cows: The cows now move about freely, whereas they used to be tied up before the arrival of the milking robots. Biggest change for the family: The family members now organise their daily work in a different manner in that it is dictated by personnel absence or emergencies rather than by fixed milking times. A day in the life: “We used to keep our business running with five or six workers whereas two people are now sufficient to manage it all. Besides the dairy farm, we also run a 2,000 hectare arable business. Even though there are plenty of routine chores, not one single day is the same and we could never do without the flexibility that the robots have brought us.”

them to the right pasture. From 9.30 am the cows graze in pasture A, after 5.30 pm they are led to pasture B, and from 2:30 am the cows go to pasture C. “There is a lot of grassland in Tasmania, so 100% grazing is the obvious solution. After all, you get the cheapest feed in the pasture. Although we are increasingly seeing cows being kept in barns all or part of the time on the Australian mainland,” John says. Pastures A, B, and C are subdivided into smaller fields that are used in rotation. “Getting the cows grazing the pastures in sections, combined with the milking robot visits, is the best way to optimise production. If you have too much fresh grass the cows get lazy and are less inclined to go to the robot to find concentrate. You have to make sure the grass runs out,” John explains. “In summer it is often too hot for good quality grass in the pastures; then they get silage which is made from the surplus grass in the spring. You also have to work out the right amount of silage to get the cows to the milking robots.”

Fewer lame cows “Since we have had the milking robots we have hardly had any lame cows because they can walk to the Lely Astronaut milking robots at their own pace. In conventional milking systems they are hurried along with a motorbike so they don’t walk at their own pace and tend to trample on each other’s feet. If the cows do have claw problems, they heal much faster now because they are allowed to walk at their own pace so their claws are not overstressed. These days they choose the best route; they snake their way through the pasture on a path about 70 cm wide which they have made themselves,” John says.

Smarter and more sociable “The cows go to the milking robots in groups of six or seven and actually wait for each other. If it is busy by the robots the rest wait a couple of hundred metres away until the robots are free and they can get to them easily. The cows are also getting smarter and smarter. Before it is time to switch pastures, they will go and stand at the milking robots to check when the Grazeway will open. If one cow does not manage to get into the “after milking” zone, they push another forwards to check whether the Grazeway to the next pasture is opening yet. In the ABC pasture grazing system, dominant and lower-ranking cows alternate as they go into the different pastures. If a dominant cow is still in front for the first

switch, once she has found a spot on the best grass in the pasture and is chewing away on it, she won’t feel the urge to be up front in the next switch so the lowerranking animals get a chance to go into the next pasture first,” John explains.

Effective insemination In addition to 100% grazing, seasonal calving is also common in Tasmania. “We now have about 100 cows that will be calving this spring. This means that all the calves will have to be born within two months. We inseminate for six weeks, then we let the bulls in for six weeks. Any cows that are still not pregnant are sent for slaughter. Livestock farmers here reckon on all their cows being dry at the same time; this is also their regular holiday time,” John explains. John is delighted with the detailed information the milking robot provides. “Thanks to the collar with the Lely Qwes HR tag, we can inseminate much more effectively. The tag measures the cows’ rumination behaviour and the Lely T4C management program tells us when a cow is on heat. This boosted the success ratio of our insemination programme massively last year.”

Milking instead of slaughtering

In the seasonal calving system, it is customary to say goodbye to any cows that don’t fall pregnant. But John wanted to prove that there is another way. When two of his best dairy cows did not fall pregnant in 2010, he decided to keep them rather than sending them for slaughter. “I just continued milking them for another 600 days and they each produced 16,000 litres, or 8,000 litres per year. They were among the first to fall pregnant in spring 2012.”

National award for milk quality Every year Dairy Australia, a national services body for dairy farmers and the dairy industry, presents an award to the dairy farmer whose milk has the lowest cell count. John has won this award for the past two years. “It’s really the milking robots that deserve the award, not me,” John laughs, adding: “That’s also the reaction I often get from disappointed farmers with conventional milking systems who have not won a prize. But it is not me who chooses the winners: that’s down to Dairy Australia.”

• AVERAGE MILK YIELD PER COW IN 2012: 7,000 LITRES

• AVERAGE MILK YIELD PER COW IN 2011: 6,800 LITRES

• CURRENT NUMBER OF LITRES PER COW PER DAY: 29-31 LITRES

• NUMBER OF MILKINGS PER DAY: 2.70

• NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS: 240

• IMPROVED FEED EFFICIENCY

• INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

• IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION

68 • INCREASED FEED INTAKE

• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN

And the future? John and Caroline have just bought 138 hectares of uncultivated land next to their currently owned land. They intend to turn this into grazing land over the next two years so that they can expand from three hundred and fifty to four hundred cows. In the meantime, John wants to find out whether it will be possible to connect the new land to his present pastures and existing barn with Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots. The downside is that this will increase the distance the cows have to walk to about 2.5 km. If the distance is not a problem, he will replace his Astronaut A3 robots with Lely Astronaut A4 milking robots and keep the existing barn. If not, then he will have to build a new barn with milking robots on the uncultivated land.

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

worked on his father’s dairy farm with a 2x10 rapid exit milking parlour. Meanwhile he met fellow countrywoman Lisa and they decided to start their own dairy farm in nearby Burford in 2007. Because Lisa, a nurse, was working 12-hour shifts and the couple wanted to have children, Arie had to run the farm on his own. He also wanted to be able to look after the children while Lisa was at work.

Flexibility breeds productivity The decision to opt for automatic milking was therefore a logical one, and Arie and Lisa are still delighted with the flexibility and free time the two Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots give them. Lisa leaves the house early in the morning and Arie looks after their three children until the school bus arrives. “It would have been much harder without robotic milking,” Arie says. “As soon as the bus leaves, I head over to the barn. It is not only me who benefits from the flexibility that modern milking robots provide; the cows are also happy in their natural rhythm. Our average milk production is 31 litres with a fat content of 4.17% and a protein content of 3.54%. With 127 dairy cows, our Astronaut A3 robots run almost continuously at 96% occupancy.”

Prize-winning barn design

The new barn Arie and Lisa had built in 2007 different markedly from standard Canadian milking robot barns. The standard models generally have the feed alley in the middle with the milking robots positioned on either side. Arie chose a design in which the feed alleys are on the outside of the barn. The milking robots are in the centre with split entry waiting rooms, separation and treatment facilities and stress-free straw pens for dry, fresh and weak cows. This layout is more convenient to work in and enables lower-ranking cows to keep an eye on the milking robots to see when they are free. On 4 April 2011, Arie and Lisa were presented with the prestigious Premier’s Award for Agrifood Innovation by the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty. They received the award in recognition of their innovative barn design which revolves entirely around automatic milking. One year on, they have welcomed thousands of visitors and the barn design has been copied dozens of times in the surrounding area.

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY FRANCE ------ NAME AND ADDRESS GAEC DE LICTOT BROTHERS ARNAUD & FABIEN BRASIL LICTOT 14240 ORBOIS ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 218 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS ONE LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 55 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 10.000 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING OCTOBER 1997 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: The Lely Astronaut milking robots creates a lot of flexibility in combination with the brothers’ contracting work. When Arnaud is on the road doing the contract work, Fabien can run the dairy business on his own. Biggest change for the cows: The cows receive more individual attention, which benefits their health. Biggest change for the family: The brothers take turns during the weekends so that one of them is always free. A day in the life: Fabien: “I usually start at 7 am by seeing to the high-attention cows. After that I clean the cubicles and the milking robot. In the meantime, Arnaud distributes the feed so that we are ready to work in the fields or do our contract work at around 9 am. I go back to the barn at around 5.30 pm. I distribute the ration in the feed alleys, see to the highattention cows and clean the cubicles.”

• 127 DAIRY COWS

• MILK PRODUCTION: APPROX 31 LITRES

• BREED: HOLSTEIN (90%), JERSEY

• 2 LELY ASTRONAUT A3 MILKING ROBOTS

• 1 LELY CALM AUTOMATIC CALF FEEDER

“THE COW DETERMINES THE SUCCESS OF YOUR FARM” At Lely the cow is at centre stage. A guiding principle with which Vetvice consultants and trainers are in complete agreement. We talk to Jan Hulsen, consultant and trainer at Vetvice and author of books including Cow Signals. Cows constantly give you information about their accommodation, their health and their needs. If you are open to these signals and intervene quickly and effectively when problems arise, you will hold the key to successful entrepreneurship in your hands.

The formula for success on farms that work with milking robots sounds so logical and simple: the cow is healthy and stress-free, the cow can access the robot without any problems, and the cow gets a reward in the robot. But to actually achieve these three factors, one needs to put in place a whole raft of management and preventative measures. So it is no surprise that livestock farmers are in need of information, coaching and training.

Healthy and stress-free cows A cow’s basic needs can be summed up in seven key words: the so-called “cow signals diamond”. Feed, water, light, air, rest and space together determine what lies at the heart of the diamond: health. Health is the result of the first six criteria, but it is also a basic need in itself. Healthy cows look after themselves with a minimum of attention; vulnerable and sick animals take up 80% of the dairy farmer’s animal care time. Jan Hulsen’s advice is this: “We advise stock farmers to gear their cows’ housing towards the most vulnerable animals’ needs. Healthy cows become vulnerable around calving time. A stress-free calving line is therefore important.

1997 — LELY LOTUS 1325, THE WORLD’S LARGEST TEDDER

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------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY UNITED KINGDOM ------ NAME AND ADDRESS WHITEHAUGH FARM JAMES CRAIK & SONS ALFORT AB33 8AL ABERDEEN ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 390 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS ONE LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 120 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 8,000-8,500 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING FEBRUARY 1999 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Father could retire and the farm now boasts a new barn that meets the requirements of the new generation. Biggest change for the cows: The cows produce more milk and their longevity has increased. Biggest change for the family: The entire family enjoys their new lifestyle which allows them more time for other activities and recreation. A day in the life: “Our day starts with an inspection of the barn. We check the computer and take the cows that are late or have just calved to the milking robot; then we check their production. We spend the rest of the morning changing the milk filter, cleaning the tanks and the milking robot, feeding the calves and doing inseminations. We give the cows fresh feed and clean their cubicles. In the afternoon, at around 4 pm, we repeat some of these tasks. We give sick cows their medication, treat them and do our paperwork. At night, once we have pushed the last lot of feed and checked the robot, our day’s work is done.”

Vulnerable cows must be identified and treated fast. So the barn needs to be designed to enable these cows to be isolated quickly and expertly. And lastly, effective treatment of the vulnerable cow is contingent upon a good treatment plan and the expertise of the farmer and the vet.”

To get all the cows to the robot on a regular basis it is important to keep the path to the robot as obstacle-free as possible. The manure alleys must be level and must give enough grip to prevent cows from slipping and falling. The cows must also have enough room to be able to pass each other easily. That means thinking in cow widths and lengths instead of centimetres. A cow with claw problems will be less keen to visit the robot and will do so less often. To keep claws healthy, it is essential to keep the passageways clean and dry. A foot bath like the Lely Walkway can boost claw hygiene. In addition, the cubicles must provide enough room and comfort for cows to lie down and stand up in. This not only benefits claw health: research shows that cows give most milk when they are able to lie down 14 hours a day.

ate

Space

Light

Easy access to the robot

Health

Air

Rewards in the robot Good concentrate is tasty and has an appealing texture. The quantity and composition should ideally be matched to the individual robot visitor. Special milking robot concentrate is already available in some countries. Crushed grains are also a popular treat in the milking robot. But there is still some catching up to do in many countries in terms of concentrate. “Take the USA, for example. Concentrate is still not widely used there,” says Jan. Most farmers there use a TMR (Total Mixed Ration) at the feeding rack, consisting of a mixture of different kinds of feedstuffs. This mixture contains a lot of nutrients and energy, proportionally more than the rations on farms where the cows get their concentrate in the milking parlour or at a concentrate station. This makes the ration at the feeding rack very tasty, as it contains high levels of the sweet nutrients that cows like. But it does not motivate the cows to go to the milking robot as the feed they get there is not as tasty as what they get at the fence. What’s more, the availability of concentrate is limited and suppliers sometimes lack the skills to make it tasty, and often it is so bad it falls apart.”

• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN • INCREASED FEED INTAKE • IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION • INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES • IMPROVED FEED EFFICIENCY

THE FIVE FREEDOMS OF THE ANIMAL

“The five freedoms of the animal” were drawn up in 1965 by the Bramwell Committee in the UK and later refined by the Animal Welfare Council. 1. Freedom from hunger and thirst by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour. 2. Freedom from physical and physiological discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area. 3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment. 4. Freedom to express normal behaviour by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind. 5. Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

These rations often contain relatively low levels of fibre, so the rumen function is not optimised and a lot of energy is used up in the gut. A cow gets its energy via the rumen and will be healthier and more active if the feed is geared towards a well-functioning rumen and optimal health.

What is animal welfare? We ask Jan Hulsen for his definition of animal welfare. He lists the Bramwell Committee’s five freedoms, but he wants to add something of his own. “The link between animal welfare and maximising milk production lies in our knowledge of cow behaviour. If you ignore the herd’s pecking order and social behaviour, you cannot build a good barn and optimise your feeding. And then the health of your animals and their production will suffer. Pregnancy is also the result of your total management. In highly productive dairy farming, with cows kept in the barn in winter, the Netherlands leads the way in terms of sustainability. In this system, the Dutch cow produces an average of 3.4 lactations – that’s longer than any other country in Europe – and gives about 31,000 litres of milk. What makes the difference is the technical expertise and knowledge sharing among Dutch livestock farmers.”

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of action several times with shoulder injuries.” Father and son each have their own living quarters near the old barn, where they live with their respective partners. When their wives leave for work in the morning Peter and Sebastian have the whole place to themselves. Dairy farming runs through both generations’ veins, thanks to Peter’s father. He left the village in 1960 with 10 cows and headed up to the hill on which the present farm is located. The old barn was converted when he died in 1984. Under Peter’s management the herd grew to 100 head of cows which were together producing as much as 11,000 litres in the conventional milking parlour. But soon they ran out of space for the calves, which had to be housed by a friendly farmer in the village. When this farmer sold his farm, Peter and his son Sebastian, who had been working on the farm full time since 2005, were faced with a major decision: whether to grow incrementally with a conventional milking system or to risk the big step towards robotic milking with a matching new barn concept.

Shining example of animal welfare

After a few weeks spent fact-finding and visiting various dairy farmers already using various milking robots, Peter and Sebastian resolutely opted for the Lely Astronaut A3 Next. And they haven’t regretted their decision for an instant. According to Karl-Josef Walmanns, Marketing Manager of the van Lely Center in Cologne, Bützler Hof is a model farm when it comes to free cow traffic and animal welfare. Other dairy farmers who visit the farm make no secret of their admiration. Schoolchildren and their teachers are also regular visitors on the farm.

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY ISRAEL ------ NAME AND ADDRESS REFET BEIT ALFA KIBBUTZ BEIT ALFA 19140 ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 100 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS SIX LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 300 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 10,000 KG ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING AUGUST 1999, WITH TWO LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ROBOTS ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Labour costs significantly reduced. Biggest change for the cows: The cows are more tranquil and more productive. Biggest change for the family: This is not a family business. A day in the life: “We work from 5 am until 1 pm. We feed the cows early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Sick cows are treated in the morning, and three times a day we take heifers and cows that have calved recently to the robots. Between 1 and 6 pm and from 7.30 pm to 5 am there is nobody on the farm, unless we receive an emergency call.”

• MILK PRODUCTION: 12,000 LITRES PER COW PER YEAR

• 165 DAIRY AND 30 DRY COWS

• FREESTALL BARN: 2,000 M2

• 3 LELY ASTRONAUT A3 NEXT MILKING ROBOTS

SUSTAINABILITY

The agricultural sector is the subject of much public debate worldwide. Widely shared values in the fields of animal welfare, the environment, energy, public health, food safety, hygiene, working conditions and landscape management form the framework within which the entrepreneur must work to earn his “licence to produce”. Using sustainable means of production and generating energy from natural sources such as wind, the sun and manure can help the agricultural sector reduce its carbon footprint and adapt to the demands of the market and the environment. Energy-neutral farming will strengthen the sector and change the livestock farmer’s business model as livestock farmers become producers of energy as well as milk and meat.

1958 — ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

DAIRY FARMER JOHANN ELLING / GERMANY

Eighty percent of providers are small-scale idealists.

The Lely Aircon 10 gives wind energy in the agricultural sector a new dimension.

ELLINGHOF

RMANY NORTMOOR, GE ---IRY COWS: 210 NUMBER OF DA A2, SINCE 2001 T AU LELY ASTRON A3, SINCE 2007 T AU LELY ASTRON 11 NEXT, SINCE 20 A3 T LELY ASTRONAU IN TE LS HO D: BREE Y: 3.2 LKINGS PER DA NUMBER OF MI FTE 1 F: AF ST OF NUMBER CTARES: 150 NUMBER OF HE OF.EU WWW.ELLINGH

Lely firmly believes that energy generation and energy consumption should be closely intermeshed. With the acquisition of the German company Aircon, a well-known manufacturer and installer of wind turbines, Lely has taken another leap forward in the area of sustainable solutions for energy-neutral dairy farms. Together with operations manager Reinhard Heeren of the Lely Center in Lower Saxony, we visited Johann Elling, the first livestock farmer for whom Aircon installed an Aircon 10S. This wind turbine supplies the power for his three Lely Astronaut milking robots, his milk cooling tank and his grain drier.

Johann Elling (46) lives with his wife and four sons aged between 8 and 14 on a large farm in Nortmoor, a small village in the far north west of Germany. He took over the farm from his parents in 1997. In a few yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time the next generation will be ready to take over the farm. To provide his sons with a sustainable future and a stable source of income, Johann has already started working on the farmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth strategy for the coming years. Upscaling and renewable energy play central roles in this strategy.

Happy pioneer

When a good friend at Aircon came up with a solution for the ever-increasing cost of electricity, Johann Ellingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest was aroused. In 2004 Aircon installed

PAY 50% NOW, AND THE REST ONLY IF YOU ARE HAPPY

89 a prototype of the first small wind turbine, the Aircon 10S, next to the barn. As a tester he was offered an attractive proposition: “Pay 50% now, and the rest only if you are happy.” And Johann is happy. Since the tryout phase, which had the usual teething problems, the wind turbine has been operating perfectly. The wind turbine generates up to 27,000 kW per year. In 2004 it looked like the farm, with its 70 cows and one Lely Astronaut milking robot, would be largely self-sufficient. Now, in 2012, the little Aircon 10S is not generating anywhere near enough electricity for all the farm’s energy needs, which currently amount to 150,000 kWh per year. Nonetheless, the wind turbine still delivers substantial savings. If he wanted to,

Johann could sell the electricity back to the energy company for 9 cents per kW. But as long as he has no overcapacity, it is more attractive for him to use it himself and save the money he would otherwise have spent on his electricity. Johann feeds 90% of the 260 kW of solar energy generated by the panels on the barn roofs back into the grid. He must use the other 10% himself in order to qualify for the subsidy.

Low noise, low maintenance

The blades of the wind turbine are virtually silent and generate a significant amount of energy even in a moderate wind. They have to be braked in stormy weather. In response to the question as to whether

TO PROVIDE MY SONS WITH A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AND A STABLE SOURCE OF INCOME, I HAVE ALREADY STARTED WORKING ON THE FARM’S GROWTH STRATEGY FOR THE COMING YEARS

LELYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S VISION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

Besides developing products with a proven long service life and the lowest possible energy consumption, Lely also focuses on complete business concepts that enable farmers to operate in an energy-neutral way. In the future farmers must be able to generate more energy than they actually need on their farms. Lelyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ambition is for farmers to no longer be consumers but producers of energy by 2020.

the low noise the wind turbine makes is a problem at night, Johann laughs: “No, it has never kept me awake at night.” A service engineer services it once a year and faults are rare.

Rules and feed-in tariffs change every year

In Germany the rules for planning permission for a small wind turbine differ from one federal state to the next and depend on the capacity and the height of the wind turbines. This uniformity in regulations and definitions is also something that is lacking on an international level; the cut-off point between “small” and “large” wind turbines can be anything between 15 and 100 kW. In Germany wind turbines of up to 50 kW are counted as “small” in line with European regulations. Under 50 kW the statutory regulations for farmers are still relatively limited; above that level the planning and environmental requirements are being expanded significantly. The feed-in tariffs offered by energy companies for renewable energy are reduced every year. On the other hand, small wind turbines are becoming more and more affordable, so numbers are growing fast. According to the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), the number of small wind turbines worldwide in 2010 was 656,000, an increase of 26% compared with the 521,000 in 2009. The rising prices of fossil fuels, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the ever-growing demand for energy will result in a significant rise in demand for wind turbines and other sources of renewable energy in the future.

Wind turbines or wind farm?

The Aircon 10S is a slender, 18 metre-high wind turbine that is barely noticeable in the German agricultural landscape dotted with the odd farm or village. It is very different from the multi-megawatt giants that can be seen from near and far. As it is not particularly tall, the town council’s initial scepticism soon turned into a positive attitude, and the necessary permits for Johann Elling were in place within three months. However, the conditions were that the wind turbine was to be integrated into the building complex and 51% of the electricity was to be used on the farm itself. In practice this means that the turbine is located right alongside the barns. There is only limited scope for expanding the capacity. Two small wind turbines generating no more than 50,000 kW per year between them are not a problem, but a third would turn the project into a wind turbine park which would reduce the chances of obtaining a permit. The same restriction applies to the installation of a larger version of the wind turbine.

Lely can close the gap between idealism and profitability

Johann Elling believes that Lely’s takeover of Aircon was a positive move. He has spoken to a number of small, idealistic energy providers over the past few years. But he always came away feeling that they were not the right kind of partners for larger, profit-focused agricultural businesses. With its international reach, innovative strength and business resources, Lely can give the wind energy market a significant boost. As far as he is concerned, this also applies to biogas generation. In this area too, he

believes that partners like Lely are needed to make the technology accessible to large groups of farmers.

Growing with more time for the family

The Elling farm has three cubicle barns designed for free cow traffic. In the old barn that dates back to 1976, a Lely Astronaut A2 installed in 2001 is still giving good service. For the time being this milking robot will continue to milk the smaller cows. The Lely Astronaut A3 and the Lely Astronaut A3 Next,

bought in 2007 and 2011 respectively, are in use in a new barn complex. They currently have 210 head of dairy cows, but Johann plans to expand his herd to four hundred. The predominantly black-and-white Holstein cows produce an average of 9,300 litres during a 305 day lactation period. The cows are given a mixture of two-thirds grass and one-third maize. They grow both crops on their own land. The feed is taken to the barn every day and pushed in with the mechanical

sweeper. A Lely Juno feed pusher is still a while away yet. However, Johann Elling does have a Lely Discovery barn cleaner, a Lely Cosmix concentrate feeding station and a Lely Luna cow brush. Johann explains: â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I took over the farm from my parents in 1997 and my wife became pregnant with our third child, I decided to switch to automatic milking so that I would have more time with my family. I work on the farm full-time and I also have a farm hand who comes in five or six days a week. My father still helps as well, as do two of my sons.â&#x20AC;?

Cows, chickens and holiday-makers

Johann Elling feels more like a businessman than a livestock farmer. He tells us enthusiastically about his plans to grow his business. His wife has many years of experience with broilers, so there are two sheds of broilers in the pipeline. Three years ago he also took over a shed containing one hundred and fifty fattening bulls from his neighbour. He also has four holiday cottages on the farm. The nearby ponds are a great place to fish, and not only for the holiday guests: Johann himself also likes to relax there when he can.

EVERY DISTRICT HAS ITS OWN RULES

A RELIABLE SOURCE OF RENEWABLE WIND ENERGY

Established in 2003, Aircon is based in Leer, a municipality in East Friesland. With a staff of seven, this German company develops and builds specialist low-noise wind turbines that produce a high energy density. Since the product was launched commercially in 2006, Aircon has installed almost 100 wind turbines worldwide. To meet the rapidly growing demand for renewable wind energy from the agricultural sector, in Lely Aircon has found a strategic partner with which to further develop and distribute its wind turbines with Microgeneration Certificate Scheme (MCS) certification. The Lely Aircon 10 wind turbine is a reliable source of renewable energy. The turbine was designed with superior technology and therefore has similar features to the turbines used by energy companies. But while other suppliers concentrate their efforts on megawatt installations, Lely chooses to innovate in the wind turbine sector. The Lely Aircon 10 wind turbine blends into the agricultural landscape and is unusually quiet. In addition, the Lely Aircon 10 wind turbine can be operated remotely 24/7 and is very low-maintenance.

ONE OF MY SONS HAS A SPECIAL AFFINITY WITH COWS; HE IS ALREADY A LIVESTOCK FARMER IN THE MAKING

THE SUN AS A SOURCE OF ENERGY AND INCOME

When the sun comes up over Ontario, Canada the solar panels on Buttermine Farms are already facing east to catch the first rays. During the day the panels track the sun to the west. Every full hour of sunlight generates up to 10 kW, half the energy needed by the farm with its 80 dairy cows and two Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots, plus the nearby farmhouse. We talk to dairy farmer Chris Vandenberg about the renewable energy he uses on his farm. Not to mention the twelve cows in his herd that kept consumers and the media entertained for a year with their playful Twitter tweets.

In 2009 the Ontario government launched its microFIT programme (FIT stands for Feed-In Tariff) to encourage renewable energy generation from the sun, wind, water and biogas. The programme appealed to Chris, so he signed a 20-year contract in exchange for a guaranteed fixed bonus for every kilowatt of solar energy he supplied to the energy company. On land in front of his barn in Brant, a village south-west of Toronto, he erected three solar towers 10 metres apart, each system consisting of a rotating pole with 18 solar panels that together form a 16 m2 square. The structure is simple but effective, and because the panels are suspended 2.5 m above the ground they do not interfere with the daily work traffic around the barn. “All the energy collected by the solar towers, about 14,000 kW annually, goes to the electricity company, OPA (Ontario Power Authority), first. They give us more for it than the normal tariff we pay for the electricity we buy in. We supply up to 10 KW per hour and use about 20 kW per hour for the barn, the farmhouse and the equipment in the workshop. So the bonus saves us a lot of money on our energy bills,” says Chris. He was one of the first livestock farmers in Ontario to take part in

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------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY ITALY ------ NAME AND ADDRESS SOC AGRICOLA BRAMBILLA FRANCESCO DI V.E V. BRAMBILLA CASCINA FEMEGRO ZIBIDO SAN GIACOMO ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 120 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS TWO LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 100 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 10,200 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING MARCH 1999 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: The daily routines are much more flexible now. It is also easier to prioritise. Biggest change for the cows: The cows yield more milk more often because they are milked more often, and vulnerable cows get more attention so the health of the herd has improved. Biggest change for the family: There is more time to enjoy life as a family. A day in the life: “After we get up, we first have breakfast together. Then I go into the barn with my 2-year-old son, where we see to the young livestock, any recently calved cows and any other high-attention cows. Then it is time to run through the day’s activities with the other members of the family and, if possible, have lunch together. We sell milk and yoghurt to consumers, we organise school visits and we rent out our location for weddings and parties. So there is always something to be done. At around 5 pm I go round the barn again and then it’s family time.”

the project. Since then the popularity of solar energy has increased significantly in Canada. Solar panels are now much cheaper to buy and government subsidies have also fallen.

Energy-efficient heating The climate in southern Ontario is moderate and humid, with average temperatures of around 23°C in the summer. When the mercury rises to 32°C and the cows start suffering in the heat, large fans and an atomiser spray provide extra cooling in the barn. “Cows don’t like drinking cold water, even in summer when it is hot. So the drinking water, which comes from our own spring, first passes through a plate cooler which is used to reduce the temperature of the milk by 50% before it goes into the milk tank,” Chris explains. “After cooling the milk, the water temperature is around 55°C, and besides using it for drinking water we also use it for underfloor heating in the office, the workshop and the shower room next to the barns. Also, we only have to heat it another 20° before it comes out of the taps in the barn as hot water.”

Wood-burning stove In winter the mercury hovers around the -4°C mark. To protect the cows against the cold and snow the barn is equipped with thermostat-controlled curtains to ensure that the temperature on the inside always stays above freezing point. “It’s no hardship, working in the barn in winter,” Chris laughs. The farmhouse is kept warm in winter with the aid of a large wood burning stove in the yard. The stove also provides all the hot water for the farmhouse in winter. Chris and his father source the wood from a wooded part of their 130-hectare farm.

One-liners from tweeting cows In 2010, Chris was approached by Marcel O’Gorman of the Critical Media Lab at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and Ron Broglio, professor of English at Georgia Gwinnett College in the USA, to participate in a unique project. The “Teat Tweet Dairy Diary” project was set up to allow twelve cows to communicate with consumers via Twitter. The aim was to put consumers back in touch with the source of milk: the cow on the farm. The university was also intrigued by the new methods used on the farm and the life of a modern dairy farmer working with milking robots.

2003 — LELY ASTRONAUT EVOLUTION

Crops thrive on the farm’s own fertiliser Ralph Moyer grows the raw feed for his herd himself: around 100 hectares of maize, 50 hectares of alfalfa and 10 hectares of rye. He uses a Nutrient Management Plan to help him get the most out of the fertilisers. This calculates the amount of fertiliser needed to provide the crops with the best possible nutrition and minimises losses of minerals into the environment. Soil samples are taken regularly to adjust the number of litres of fertiliser per hectare. Once it has been harvested, the raw feed is ensiled and mixed with vitamins and minerals before being fed along feed fences in accordance with the TMR (Total Mixed Ration) feed system that is widely used in the USA. The Lely Juno automatic feed pusher sees to it that there is a constant supply of feed at the feed fences. The cows are given grain in pellet form in the milking robots.

From milking to managing

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“Before we bought the milking robots, we were milking about a hundred cows three times a day. During the day we split the milking between different family members, and at night a student came in to milk the cows for us. Now our 250 cows visit the robots more often and our milk yield is up – and we hardly have to worry about it. Instead of milking, I spend my time managing the farm and our cows” health, helped by the information from the Lely T4C management program that is connected to the milking robots.”

Attractive to the younger generation Moyer believes that his farm is now a lot more attractive to the next generation of livestock farmers. “With the arrival of the milking robots and the manure digester we have made our farm more labour-efficient, more exciting and more interesting for the younger generation,” he says. “We offer an interesting place to work for young people who have trained at agricultural college. The work here is more management-oriented than labour-intensive. We also hear that from the young couple who have been helping us on the farm for the past year.”

• 1 LELY JUNO FEED PUSHER

• 100 HECTARES OF MAIZE, 50 HECTARES OF ALFALFA AND 10 HECTARES OF RYE

105

• MANURE DIGESTER WITH A CAPACITY OF MORE THEN 40,000 LITRES

• 4 LELY ASTRONAUT A3 MILKING ROBOTS

REFINING THE “NEW GOLD” SUSTAINABLY

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“A manure refinery system should be attractive without a subsidy, it should not need much attention and it should make farmers independent in terms of their energy needs. In addition, it should only process genuine residual products, not valuable co-products that can also be used as feed.” So says Paul Harkema of Green Energy Technology (GET). In the joint venture known as RED International, Lely and GET are collaborating on finding a sustainable solution for converting manure into usable end-products: mineral-rich artificial fertiliser replacements and green energy. “The manure refinery system we are working on cannot be compared to the biogas installations or refinery systems currently used by livestock farmers,” Paul stresses. “This new concept fits in perfectly with existing Lely applications for dairy farms: it is sustainable, it earns money and it is user-friendly.”

“The launch of this revolutionary manure refinery system has a double benefit for livestock farmers: it reduces the cost of manure removal and fertilising, and it brings in additional revenues from another income source, namely green energy,” Paul enthuses. “It’s not for nothing that they call manure the new gold!” This unique concept fits in well with Lely’s vision of sustainability. Lely is convinced that working in a lifecycle-neutral way will strengthen the position of the agricultural sector and comprehensively change the livestock farmer’s business model. Besides producing milk and meat, livestock farmers will soon be producers of energy as well.

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY KOREA ------ NAME AND ADDRESS DDONATTA FARM HWASEONG-SI GYOUNGGI-DO ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 5 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS TWO LELY ASTRONAUT A3 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 120 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 6,500 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING APRIL 2006 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Using the time gained, the dairy farmer has set up his own dairy production business. Biggest change for the cows: The cows themselves decide when they want to be milked. They are less bothered by stress and their production has increased. Biggest change for the family: There is more time for the children and the family can now go out on the occasional trip. In addition, other family members can easily step in for the dairy farmer thanks to the milking robot and the computer connected to it. A day in the life: “I am the first to go into the barn to check the herd, the water supply and the rations in the feed alleys. Then the robot’s computer tells me what to do that day. Once I have finished those chores, which is usually between 9 and 10 am, it is time for breakfast. After breakfast I go and offer my dairy products to supermarkets and at local markets. Thanks to the milking robot I now have my own dairy line including milk, yoghurt, cheese and other products. Now I hope to be able to expand my sales outlets. If there is a guided tour of the farm scheduled, I stay to welcome the visitors and show them round. At night, before I go to sleep, I check the cows and the T4C program again.”

Convenient and attractive to buy The manure refinery system is a small, easy-to-use installation ideal for dairy farms with between 150 and 200 head of cows that produce at least 5,000 cubic metres of manure. The fresh manure can be processed after as little as one or two days and no co-products need to be added to it. “During the refining process we convert the various components of the manure into methane-rich biogas and separate flows of nitrogen, potassium and phosphate. This enables the farmer to make optimal use of all the minerals on his farm to fertilise his land. So he saves money because he has to buy in very little if any additional fertiliser. And because he does not have to transport so much manure, he saves on those costs as well. The system works in all countries, although incomes will vary depending on the prices paid locally for green electricity and the cost of manure transportation and artificial fertiliser,” Paul explains.

Stability and convenience Manure digestion involves the manure being converted into biogas by bacteria in an anaerobic environment. “The stability and convenience of present systems often leave much to be desired. Some systems can be very susceptible to minor deviations in portion sizes and the composition of the manure,” says Paul Harkema. “Keeping a manure digester going can be a very time-consuming business at the moment. We want to give farmers a system they can leave alone to get on with it.”

Attractive returns There are challenges ahead for RED on the financial front as well. “The problem with current digesters is the return on investment. The investment costs are too high despite the subsidies, and the returns are too low. The manure refinery system that Lely will be marketing needs to be an attractive investment; we are aiming for a payback time of no more than seven years without subsidies,” Paul explains.

Corporate social responsibility Manure can be digested on its own (mono-digestion) or together with other organic material (codigestion). Codigestion is particularly popular in the USA where about 15% of all the grain grown is now used for biorefinery. This is leading to a

2005 — LELY SPLENDIMO CLIP – FAST, SAFE AND SIMPLE!

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• IMPROVED FEED EFFICIENCY

• INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

• IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION

108 • INCREASED FEED INTAKE

• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN

drop in the amount of feed available for cows and therefore less meat and milk. Lely is not in favour of this development, given the increasing demand for food and the decreasing availability of agricultural land. For this reason RED is working on a manure refinery system that works solely with waste materials.

To be continued... â&#x20AC;&#x153;The practical test with the first prototype of our manure refinery system, the AgriMoDEM, has already attracted a lot of attention; the Dutch farm where we tested the system has had visits from other farmers, study groups and government officials including the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. We are currently working on a second series of prototypes based on this practical test. These prototypes will shortly be tested by a number of stock farmers under various conditions,â&#x20AC;? says Paul Harkema. For example, RED is developing a fully fledged manure refinery system which will be marketed and serviced by Lely.

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P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

Sustainability has many facets Sustainability is not just about producing milk as cleanly and as environmentally soundly as possible. “To us, doing business sustainably also means looking after our people and our animals properly. That is why we have invested in as much automation as possible on our farm. Thanks to the Lely Astronaut A4 robots, the Lely Juno and the Lely Discovery, we can manage our production process better and the taxing physical work has largely disappeared. Our workers are already complaining that their arms are getting thinner!” he jokes. In the barn there are two people who take over from each other between 5 am and 6 pm. There are also two other people working in the fields who supply the grass and maize for the cows. “Now more than ever we are aware that we must treat our natural environment with respect. If we don’t self-regulate our work to a large degree, the government will do it for us. And that could put our current milk production and any expansion plans at risk,” says Claus.

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------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY THE NETHERLANDS ------ NAME AND ADDRESS AD EN GRETA VAN DEN BERG ELZENWEG 19 2921 LA MOLENAARSGRAAF ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 75 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS THREE LELY ASTRONAUT A4 (SINCE 26 NOVEMBER 2012)

------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 110 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 8,000 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING AUGUST 1992 (WITH 2ND PROTOTYPE OF MILKING ROBOT) ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: When Ad’s father stepped down from the business in 1992, the Lely Astronaut milking robot meant that they were able to run it with fewer people. Biggest change for the cows: The cows are no longer chased, they are calmer and udder health has improved now that they are milked more than twice a day. Biggest change for the family: When the milking robot was introduced in 1992, Ad and Greta still had young children. The family now has more time to have meals together and to go out as a family. A day in the life: “I get up around 7 am and go to the barn first. There I check the computer to see how my cows are doing. I take care of the calves and clean the cubicles. When I’ve finished, between 8.30 and 9 am, I have a cup of coffee. The rest of the day I am busy in and around the barn. At 5 pm I do another round of the barn, the same as in the morning, and then I can enjoy my evening. The milking robot is a great invention and a major change for our industry.”

• MILK PRODUCTION: 12,000 KG PER COW PER YEAR

• 1 LELY DISCOVERY MOBILE BARN CLEANER • 1 LELY JUNO FEED PUSHER

• 6 LELY ASTRONAUT A4 MILKING ROBOTS

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• 450 HOLSTEIN COWS

• BARN SIZE: 8,800 M2

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PROFITABILITY

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PROFITABILITY

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A successful agricultural entrepreneur is more than a hard worker. He is a manager who approaches his work with passion and focuses on cost savings, efficiency, quality, innovation and returns. The importance of this role is growing, because with the price of milk falling, labour and feed costs need to be kept firmly under control, especially as the scale of farms in the dairy sector increases. Automating labour-intensive work such as milking and feeding saves money and frees up time to manage. It can also increase feed efficiency and therefore milk production. Lowest cost of ownership (keeping operating costs as low as possible), benchmarking and the use of Standard Operating Procedures are important tools for controlling profitability.

1958 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

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FAMILY GALA MERINO / SPAIN

We have been working on getting the best out of our cows for three generations. The Best Dairy Farmer 2010 award was the cherry on the top for us.

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GALA MERINO

PRADO, SPAIN ESCALONA DEL ---IRY COWS: 247 NUMBER OF DA 2007 AUT A3, SINCE 3 LELY ASTRON 2007 T A3 NEXT, SINCE AU ON TR AS LY LE IN TE LS BREED: HO Y: 2.7 LKINGS PER DA NUMBER OF MI AFF: 2 FTE NUMBER OF ST CTARES: 150 NUMBER OF HE

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In 2010 dairy giant Danone honoured its Spanish milk suppliers for the first time. More than 700 Spanish livestock farmers had a profound impact on the quality of Danone dairy products, and Danone was keen to recognise this. The award for the best dairy farm in the “More than 2,000 litres per day” category went to the family-run farm Gala Merino in Escalona del Prado, a small community north of Madrid. Marisa Merino accepted the award at the official award ceremony.

IT’S HARD WORK BEING A LIVESTOCK FARMER. WE HAVE HAD A GOOD WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH DANONE FOR 30 YEARS, AND WHEN THEY RECOGNISE THAT WITH AN AWARD, IT REALLY MOTIVATES YOU TO KEEP ON IMPROVING

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Marisa said proudly. Two years on, Gala Merino’s milk production is still remarkable, both in quantity and quality. We ask the family to share with us the secret of their success. “The secret of our success lies in the combination of feed, the cows’ health, and peace in the herd,” says son Samuel Gala. “The comfortable new barn with Lely Astronaut milking robots and free cow traffic play a key role in that. The cows follow their own rhythm now – just like we do.”

A real family farm

Gala Merino is a third-generation family farm in which every family member has their own tasks. Mother Marisa and daughter Elena look after the calves and maiden heifers housed in the old barn in the village. They also do the admin, and Elena works as a local vet. Son Samuel is responsible for feeding the cows, while his brother Diego delivers the raw feed from the farm’s 150 hectares of arable land. The dry cows, newborn calves and high-attention cows get special attention from father Pedro. They check the milking robots every day together. Two

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WHO LOOKS AFTER THE COWS AT NIGHT? “THE MILKING ROBOTS,” LAUGHS SAMUEL. “WE HAVE A WEB CAM TO KEEP AN EYE ON ANY COWS IN CALF”

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Success factor #1: continuous, fresh feed

hired-in workers keep the cubicles clean. And the grandparents like to come down to the farm every now and then for a look round. The whole family lives in the nearby village of Escalona del Prado, a fiveminute drive from the farm.

Production figures to be proud of

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Gala Merino has 247 Holstein cows that are milked by three Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots and one Lely Astronaut A3 Next robot. Samuel proudly shows us the figures from the Lely T4C management system. The average milk yield is 39-40 litres per day with a fat content of 3.5% and 3.2% protein. This means that 3,650 tonnes of milk go to Danone each year. Their highest producing cow gives more than 73 litres per day and the oldest cow is already in her ninth lactation, six more than the average on this farm. The cows visit the robot an average of 2.7 times per day, and the number of rejections is just 0.7. The family breeds its own calves. When the calves are three days old they go to the old barn in the village. This barn can accommodate about 250 calves and maiden heifers. When the maiden heifers are seven months pregnant they return to the new barn to get used to their future home.

The composition, quality and ongoing availability of fresh feed together form the first success factor for the cows” high productivity. The ration is a mixture of silage maize, alfalfa, soya, rape, brewer’s grains and wheat grains. The grain is grown on their own land, as is some of the maize and alfalfa. They buy the rest in, together with the protein-rich concentrate that is provided in the milking robots. A Lely Juno automatic feed pusher provides a constant supply of feed at the feed fences. “With the Lely Juno, the cows can feed and chew the cud all day long. It is a continuous process, an interplay with the milking robots,” says Samuel as he shows us round the barns.

Success factor #2: the barn concept

In 2007 the Gala Merino family decided to switch to automatic milking. At that time Pedro was spending about eight hours a day milking, which was extremely taxing both in terms of time and physical effort. The family wanted to make things more comfortable for the cows and for themselves. This need for better quality and greater comfort was also recognised in the new barns which they built on a hill alongside their farmland, just outside the village where the old farm is located. The new barn for the dairy cows has an area of 3,000 m2 and the barn for dry and calved cows is 1,080 m2. The barns only have a roof, no side walls. Roller blinds protect the cows against bright sunlight when necessary. The open design provides optimum ventilation and because of its higher location, the wind is enough to keep the barn temperature at a pleasant level even in summer. The cubicles are amply spread with sand. “Using sand has had a massive impact on udder health,” says Samuel. “We used to use straw, but the mould and

In Spain regulations are decided at the provincial level. In Segovia most manure comes from cows and pigs, followed by sheep, chickens and rabbits. The total manure production is not yet of concern to the provincial administration. Nonetheless, the municipality of Escalona del Prado has set up a biogas project. The project is still in the preparation phase. When they look for contractors to implement it, Samuel Gala will definitely be interested.

Success factor #3: healthy, relaxed cows

bacteria that nestle in it caused us far more problems with udder infections.” A glance at the virtually snow-white cubicles is enough to see that the sand is changed frequently. “Keeping the bedding clean is important for the health of our animals and we spend a lot of time on that every day. The drinking places are small but efficient. Water is scarcer here than in neighbouring areas, so water only comes out of the tap when the cows activate it with their noses. That also helps us keep our drinking water clean.”

Slurry for their own use

Manure scrapers push the slurry straight into a lagoon behind the barn. They use the roughly 10,000 m3 of slurry to fertilise their own land in spring and autumn. The province of Segovia, where the Gala Merino family’s farm is located, currently has no regulations regarding the use of fertilisers.

The comfort and hygiene in the barns have a positive impact on the cows’ health. That also applies to the milking robot concept: the cows follow their own rhythm, which makes for peace in the herd. All the cows are checked by a vet every week. When the maiden heifers are on heat, they are weighed to check whether they are ready for insemination. Sexed semen is not yet widely used in Spain, so only 20% of the maiden heifers are impregnated using this method. The cows are given foot baths three times a week to keep their claws healthy. With manure alleys, cubicles and claws kept properly clean, claw problems do not get in the way of the cows visiting the milking robots and they are happy to stand at the feed fence.

Danone award is the cherry on the top

The Gala Merino family has been supplying dairy giant Danone with milk every day for 30 years. The award presented in 2010 was the cherry on the top of all the work that has gone into the farm over three generations to get it where it is today. The award not only gives them recognition and appreciation in the agricultural sector. French footballer Zinedine Zidane even came to their farm in person to take part in a

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promotional campaign for the award. The photographs in the office still bear witness to this memorable event. And as if this was not enough, pictures of the family members were printed on consumer packs of Danone yoghurt. “The packs went all over Europe,” says mother Marisa proudly. “They even had yoghurts with our pictures on in Moscow.”

Three generations in the family

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Livestock farming is in the Gala Merino family’s genes. Grandfather Felix had a dairy farm, Pedro and Marisa started their own dairy farm, and they now run the modern farm just outside Escalona del Prado with their children. Having being presented with the award, Marisa gives a little insight into earlier times on the Danone Spain website: “It all started when Pedro came back from the army and we decided to get married. My father gave us 15 heifers and we started our own farm. I was 22 years old and I had been milking my parents’ cows by hand since I was 14. There were good times and less good times, but Pedro has always kept us going forward. He is a perfectionist and has always

“A HEALTHY, STRESS-FREE COW IS A PRODUCTIVE COW. SO WE DO OUR BEST TO ACHIEVE THAT,” LAUGHS SAMUEL

wanted to be one step ahead in genetics, installation, machinery, and so on. So we both had to invest a lot of time in the farm, and I was also in charge of the books and the other paperwork. I was a livestock farmer and a mother at the same time. From a very early age my children had to learn what it meant to run a farm that earned us our daily bread. We are still working together today, and we complement each other very well in everything we do together. We started the new farm in 2007 and that meant a big leap in quality and comfort for both the animals and ourselves. So now we are getting the chance to enjoy a quality of life we never had before.”

Consolidation is the keyword for the future

We ask Samuel whether they have any more growth ambitions for the future. He answers in the negative: “This size is fine for us as a family farm. We don’t need any more cows per se. Our challenge is to keep on improving our production and the welfare of the cows.”

KEY COW DATA

Highest milk yield per cow per day: 73 litres. Highest number of lactations from one cow: 9. Milk separated by robot in 2012: 0 litres. Best cow in kilograms of milk per year: > first lactation 18.438 kg; > second lactation 21.646 kg. • Average number of high-attention cows in 2012: 6 per day. • • • •

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WE NEED TO KEEP THE ANIMALS IN THE BARN ALL THE TIME HERE. AFTER ALL, THERE IS NO GRAZING LAND AROUND HERE; JUST CORNFIELDS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE

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LARGE-SCALE DAIRY FARMS ON THE UP

The size of cattle farms is increasing all over the world. While so-called mega-farms still give rise to fierce debates on their environmental impact and animal welfare in western Europe, the number of XL size dairy farms in the Russian Federation and eastern Europe and in countries such as China, Vietnam and Turkey is rising rapidly. But upscaling is also happening in countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia. A growing number of large-scale dairy farms are in the hands of private investors or companies that have little or no experience in dairy farming. As a result, issues such as housing, feeding, breeding programmes, animal welfare, the environment and energy are increasingly being dealt with by suppliers and consultants.

132 We discussed this with Siebren van der Zwaag of Friesian Consultancy and Evert Jan Niemeijer, Account Manager Large Dairy at Lely. Siebren advises investors and future owners on how to produce a sound business plan and performs audits on existing farms. Provision of farm managers and dairy cattle specialists and staff training on dairy farms also form part of his portfolio of services. The growth of large-scale dairy farming has been fuelled by a number of developments. Increasing prosperity has caused demand for luxury dairy products and baby food to increase worldwide. In addition, more and more countries are viewing agricultural production as a stimulus for their regional economies. On top of this, large dairy cooperatives in countries such as China are investing in their own large-scale dairy farms; after all, food safety begins with the basics, i.e. milk as an ingredient. By going one step back in the supply chain it is possible to monitor milk quality even more effectively and increase quantities.

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY NORTHERN IRELAND ------ NAME AND ADDRESS MARK WATTON 114, BALLYBOGEY ROAD BALLYMONEY CO ANTRIM / BT536PG ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 350 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS TWO LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 150 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 8,500 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING APRIL 2000 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: The main advantage of robots is he gets to spend more time hands-on with cows and there is more information available on the cows. Biggest change for the cows: Cows are much healthier and relaxed. Biggest change for the family: More time spent with the family, closer relationships built! A day in the life: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I start the morning at 6 am and spend about an hour checking information in Lely T4C and treating or attending to the attention lists. Then I go feeding stock, changing paddock wires, and do general farm work. At the end of the day I repeat my morning routine and I finish by 5 pm.â&#x20AC;?

“The most essential factor for the success of a large dairy farm is the human factor,” says Siebren. “That starts even before the barn is built, with expertise in housing, raw feed production, manure processing and, of course, the health of the cows. In a barn where corners are cut in the quality of the floors, the cows will be lame in a couple of weeks. Allowing free cow traffic and locating milking robots centrally have a positive impact on the number of milkings per day. If you harvest and store expensive raw feed in the wrong way, you lose money on nutritional value and residual waste. Storing manure properly saves you money: instead of buying in artificial fertilisers you can use your own good quality manure and you are benefiting the environment as well,” Siebren summarises. “These are all factors you need to allow for in your business plan. And what about those epidemics that have been eradicated in some parts of the world but are still rampant in others? If you do not keep healthy imported dairy cows separate from local cows, they will catch diseases like foot-and-mouth in an instant in some regions.” When the most time-consuming tasks like milking, feeding and keeping the barns clean are automated, running a large-scale dairy farm is less about managing people. After all, automation replaces milkers and stockpeople: quite an outcome for many dairy farmers who have great difficulty finding motivated and qualified personnel. But it is ultimately the human touch that determines whether automation is successful or not. “There are farms hiring farm managers who have never milked a cow in their lives, either conventionally or automatically,” says Siebren. “Take the situation in Russia, for example. There they would have one or two cows to supply their private needs or cows would be kept in a kolkhoz – a collective farm at the time of the Soviet Union – in which jobs were highly fragmented. They had not had family farms there for a long time. People who go to work on a modern automated farm with no agricultural background or education will need a lot of training and support. Using Standard Operating Procedures (Sops) is vital. The same applies to farm managers: they will need thorough training and support, and their responsibilities should also be defined in Standard Operating Procedures.” Siebren and his colleagues currently receive regular requests for farm managers from western Europe or the USA to help set up large farms in Russia, eastern Europe or Asia. They are needed to train up local farm managers and their specialists.

2005 — LELY ASTRONAUT A3 INTRODUCED

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UNIQUE APPROACH ELICITS ADMIRATION

Keeping 1,000 cows in a barn for ten months a year in a country where there is no shortage of grazing land? That’s grist to the critics’ mill. After building their new barns on New Zealand’s South Island, Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen had a fair number of critical visitors. Representatives of the government and animal welfare organisations and fellow livestock farmers came with preconceptions – but went home pleasantly surprised. Have Aad and Wilma heralded a new era? Milk production has doubled, concentrate and staff costs are down and the cows are relaxed and happy. That makes keeping dairy cows indoors an attractive proposition even in New Zealand’s grazing heartlands.

142 Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen’s two new barns in Morven, South Canterbury, cover an area of 125 x 32 m. Each barn has six Lely Astronaut A3 and two Lely Astronaut A3 Next milking robots and is equipped with 500 spacious cubicles. One of the barns is home to 500 Jersey cows, while the other houses 500 Holsteins. A conscious choice, says Aad van Leeuwen, who wanted to test whether the different breeds would react differently to the milking robot. The milk yield and fat and protein contents turned out to be much the same, partly due to the fact that 80% of the Jersey cows are heifers. But the difference in milk yield between grazing and housing cows in the barn is abundantly clear: production has risen by 50% since the cows have been kept indoors.

Bob encourages the ladies to eat Every three months, 125 dairy cows are dried off in the pasture and replaced by newly calved cows. Calving all year round pays off in New Zealand because

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY POLAND ------ NAME AND ADDRESS URSZULA & DARIUSZ KOLTUNIAK WÓLKA SOSENSKA 28 08-140 MORDY SIEDLECKI COUNTY MAZOWIESKIE PROVINCE ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 70 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS ONE LELY ASTRONAUT A3 NEXT ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 74 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 9,220 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING APRIL 2010 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: The milking robot saves manpower so there is no need to hire in help. Biggest change for the cows: The cows follow their natural rhythm and are checked and treated individually. Biggest change for the family: The family members have more time for relaxation and a social life; they don’t need to get up so early any more and they have flexible working hours. A day in the life: “I get up at 7 am and check the computer reports. I deal with any issues around highattention cows straight away. Then I prepare the feed for the cows and observe them for a while. Then it is time to feed the young livestock so that I can have breakfast at 9 am. After breakfast I have time to work in and around the barn. I check the robot computer at around 1 pm and I have lunch at 2 pm. In the afternoon I do all kinds of jobs and at around 6 pm it is time to do a final computer check and anything that needs to be done as a result of that check. I stay on for a while to monitor the cows and calves, and after that I am free.”

dairy factories pay extra bonuses on milk in winter. The dairy cows get their rations, consisting of grass silage, lucerne hay, maize silage, cotton seed and concentrate, at the feed fence. A Lely Juno feed pusher, named Bob after Aad’s financial advisor at the bank, constantly pushes feed up to the feed fence. This not only reduces the amount of leftover feed; Aad is sure that Bob actually encourages the cows to eat. Keeping the cows in the barn versus 100% grazing saves about 4 to 5 kg of raw feed per day. “It also makes it easier to keep protein levels constant,” says Aad. “With grazing, the protein intake differs from one pasture to the next.”

Staff hard to come by The barns are efficiently managed. This is a great advantage these days: while dairy farming has grown rapidly in New Zealand over the last 15 years, the number of qualified workers has actually fallen. Replacing human labour by automation is therefore an absolute necessity. “I am now achieving twice the production with the same number of workers,” Aad explains.

The barn promotes health The cows in a freestall barn walk a lot less than those on the hilly grasslands of New Zealand. So incidents of lameness have fallen considerably. In addition, changes in the weather such as storms and rain have no effect on the dairy cows’ health as long as they remain in the barn. The number of mastitis cases is also down.

Slurry versus artificial fertiliser Slurry is automatically swept into a cellar with enough storage capacity for seven to eight weeks. The cellar is then pumped dry and the manure is spread over the 170 hectares of land. The 40 tonnes of liquid manure are a good substitute for artificial fertiliser that is normally used on grassland. “It is much healthier for the grass than the cow pats, which suffocate the grass and contain high concentrations of nitrogen. But replacing artificial fertiliser with slurry is still an entirely new phenomenon in New Zealand,” says Aad, “as is using manure as a source of energy. As long as electricity costs remain low and the systems are expensive, there is unlikely to be much interest in biogas in the near future.”

2007 — A UNIQUE CONCEPT: LELY LOTUS 2010 TEDDER

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• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN

CONTRACT MILKERS AND SHAREMILKERS IN DAIRY FARMING

• INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

Sharemilkers have a contractual agreement under which the farm owner contributes the infrastructure (land, barns) and sometimes cows and the sharemilker provides the physical labour, management skills and some physical assets such as machinery and concentrate, and sometimes his own livestock. The profit from the milk is divided between the farm owner and the sharemilker. Sharemilkers generally save towards eventually buying their own farm.

• IMPROVED FEED EFFICIENCY

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• IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION

• INCREASED FEED INTAKE

Contract milkers have a contract with the farm owner to do his milking. Together with their hired-in personnel, they are responsible for the cows and the milk production. The farm owner provides the cows, the rations, the machines and anything else needed for milk and raw feed production. Contract milkers’ fees are determined contractually and are generally a percentage of the milk production related to the fat and protein content of the milk.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating But despite doubling their milk production, they have not yet got the maximum out of the new strategy. The positive impact of housing cows in barns on raw feed intake, nutritional values and cow health will result in physically larger cows that produce more milk than the average dairy cow in pasture. It also enables farmers to keep a higher density of livestock per hectare. According to Aad, major savings can also be made on ration costs: you need less raw feed in the barn, and you can harvest more raw feed from your land without grazing. The return on investment (ROI) on milking robots is on average of 10% compared with 3.5% on conventional milking systems. Aad expects that more cows will be housed in barns in New Zealand in the years ahead as political, economic and environmental pressures increase and climate change makes its presence felt. How rapid the growth will be will in particular be determined by the extent of any upturn in the economy.

Early adopters “Family farms will be the early adopters of robotic milking here in New Zealand,” Aad predicts. “The stable environment which allows for consistency in the workforce and management makes it easier to implement automated milking. But in the New Zealand system of contract milkers and sharemilkers, and the workers that come and go because of it, you are continually having to train new people on the milking robots. So it is absolutely essential that milking robots are easy to operate – in other words, ‘idiot proof’.” Aad van Leeuwen left the Netherlands for New Zealand as a 21-year-old in 1983. After leaving Agricultural High School in Gouda, as the youngest son in a farming family he had no chance of inheriting his parents’ farm. In New Zealand he soon met Wilma. Together they trod the usual New Zealand career path from herd manager to contract milker and sharemilker to ultimately owning their own dairy farm. They currently own 12 farms, with between 400 and 1,500 cows on each farm. The Van Leeuwen Dairy Group employs about 80 people, 40 of whom work for Aad and Wilma directly. The rest work indirectly via contract milkers and sharemilkers.

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A PLEASANT WORKING ENVIRONMENT 5

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A PLEASANT WORKING ENVIRONMENT

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Much has changed in the life of the dairy farmer over the past 20 years. Whereas the traditional farmer lived to work, the 21st century farmer works to enable him or her to enjoy the finer things in life. Entrepreneurship, personal development and the need to play an active social role in the family and the community determine this entrepreneur’s daily rhythm. Automation and the management information it brings with it are changing the farmer’s focus: from routine tasks to “management by exception”. The time they can gain in this way gives them the scope to specialise or carry out other activities, driven by their personal goals and interests. Time for family and friends is no longer governed by the issues of the day. It can be selected carefully, not least thanks to the availability of reliable, hard-working and productive machines.

1958 — ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

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DAIRY FARMER PETER GILLE / THE NETHERLANDS

I’m not the kind of person who rests on their laurels.

My wife is already dreading the day when everything is done. I see new opportunities everywhere I look. BOERDERIJ ND ERLA LA HET NSING LANDS

K, THE NETHER ---IRY COWS: 60 NUMBER OF DA A4, SINCE 2011 T AU ON LELY ASTR LSTEIN HO D: EE BR Y: 2.6 LKINGS PER DA NUMBER OF MI 23 FTE F: AF ST OF ER NUMB CTARES: 42 NUMBER OF HE GERLAND.NL RIJHETLANSIN WWW.BOERDE BERGSCHENHOE

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A little way to the north of Rotterdam, just outside the municipality of Bergschenhoek, lies Boerderij Het Lansingerland. In April 2012 the Taskforce Multifunctionele Landbouw (Multifunctional Agriculture Taskforce) voted this urban farm one of the top five farms in multifunctional agriculture. This endorsement was the result of vision, drive and faith. This report provides a glimpse behind the scenes of a multifaceted urban farm where the cow is still at centre stage. And where the milking robot is not only a practical solution but also a major attraction for the thousands of visitors they receive each year.

Playgroup with cows

It all started six years ago with a leaflet about an agricultural playgroup in Limburg. This leaflet gave Peter and Annigje Gille the idea of starting a playgroup on Peter’s father’s farm. Eating together at lunchtime, opening half days, closing during the school holidays: this gave them plenty of opportunity to set up a playgroup alongside Peter’s job as a freelance agricultural contract worker. And there was still enough time left over to help his father on the dairy farm. The playgroup on the farm was a great success. But Peter and Annigje couldn’t enjoy it for long. Less than two years later the Dutch government introduced the childcare allowance. The idea was to encourage parents

WE WERE A BIT MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE PLAYGROUPS IN THE VILLAGE. THE COWS MADE THE DIFFERENCE

157 with young children to both go out to work or gain a qualification. As a result, Peter and Annigje saw the focus shift from a playgroup to whole day care. And at almost the same time the government drew up plans to build a nature park on the farm site. Peter and his father were asked to sell all their land. But the price per square metre they were offered was much too low to compensate for their investments in the playgroup and to buy out Peter’s uncle.

Recreational entrepreneurship or livestock farmer with recreation?

A switch from playgroup to childcare centre did not fit in with the government’s plans for the nature park.

The low price per square metre remained on the table. After months of fruitless negotiations Peter had had enough. He started to collect as much information as possible about the area, local policy plans, new local housing projects and the requirements for a nature park. He found out that the Bergschenhoek municipality was interested in buying neighbouring plots of land for leisure and cultural purposes. These plots were to be leased to businesses wanting to open a gallery, a children’s farm or a tea garden. Peter devised a bold plan, wrote it down on two sheets of paper and submitted it to the municipality. Within two weeks he was invited to substantiate his

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WHEN I SUBMITTED MY PLAN ON TWO SHEETS OF PAPER, THEY LAUGHED IN MY FACE. BUT TWO WEEKS LATER I WAS SITTING DOWN WITH THE COUNCIL EXPLAINING MY VISION

WHO IS PETER GILLE INSPIRED BY?

“To keep your business profitable and growing, you must do one big new thing and a few smaller things every year. Take Lely, for instance: they are constantly thinking outside the box. They work on innovation in a consistent and logical way and I have immense admiration for them. That fits in with my quest for new things.” Another inspiration is Ben Tiggelaar, independent researcher, writer and trainer. His motto? Helping people turn their dreams into action, based on a Christian philosophy. “I like that,” Peter says. “Faith is closely intertwined with how we want to live and work. Faith makes you appreciative and helps you keep both feet on the ground.” “Not one of my friends and acquaintances is in agriculture. Most are self-employed or have managerial positions in large companies. Their stories inspire me. A good friend of mine has a fast-growing business – I spar with him a lot about entrepreneurship.”

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TAKE THE COWS OUT OF THE FARM AND YOU TAKE OUT ITS HEART AND SOUL. AND THE ENERGY OUT OF ME

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vision. He took an advisor along to help. Using his vision as a starting point, they developed a plan for a modern urban farm. The farm would provide space for a childcare centre (46 places for the 0-4 age group, 40 out-of-school places for 4- to 12-year-olds), a 250 m2 shop, a meeting and wedding venue, a camp site, a 250 m2 restaurant and group accommodation with 36 double rooms with en-suite shower rooms. They also wanted a modern freestall barn with a milking robot. Peter was not planning to do a small recreational livestock farming with 20 cows. He wanted a freestall barn for his 60 cows with extra capacity for another 60! His lobbying for the plan bore fruit, and he received the necessary permits, sold a small part of the land to the municipality for playing fields and borrowed the rest of the money for this ambitious project from the bank.

Costs and benefits

First the child care facilities were built. These had to generate cash flow. Despite the drop in demand for childcare places nationally due to the economic crisis, Peter and Annigje’s childcare centre was soon full. And the demand still exceeds the capacity today. The shop, the freestall barn, the kitchen for the workshops, the meeting rooms and the house were built a year later. Peter now has a staff of 23. But the contract with the permanent worker in the barn was

terminated. The disappointing results from the shop, the additional building costs for paving the outside areas and the capital-intensive dairy farm call for a strict policy of savings. But that’s a temporary setback as far as Peter is concerned. He hopes to get the farm fully operational and as profitable as possible within two years so he can take someone else on to look after the cows. Peter is all the happier with his milking robot. It saves him a lot of time. Time he desperately needs for working on phase 2 of his business plan: the camp site must be ready in 2013, the restaurant is scheduled to open in 2014 and the group accommodation must be ready for letting by 2015.

Cows are the heart and soul of our farm

Looking at the investments in the urban farm and the capital-intensive nature of the dairy farm, it remains to be seen whether the cows can stay or will have to go. There’s no question for Peter though. “The cows are the core of our farm. Take the cows out of the farm and you take out its heart and soul. And the energy out of me. Because I am and always will be just a dairy farmer. When I’m with the cows, I get the energy to think, to develop a vision. As soon as I can afford to take on a permanent worker for the barn again, I will gladly hand over their primary care. Sometimes the 40 hours a week I currently spend feeding, cleaning and checking the cows and the robot are difficult to combine with all the other jobs I have. But I just keep working in and around the barn. People want to see the farmer in the barn. That’s how I attract customers. And it’s because of the cows that the childcare centre is so successful. We take the children into the barn several times a day, and the parents love that. The

shop has a raison d’être because we are milking cows: people come by bike, have an ice cream, take pictures of the milking robot and buy things from the shop. Companies hold meetings here because we give them a view of the cows; their shoes stay clean and it doesn’t smell of manure. And the cows are also essential for the camp site we are building: no cows, no farm camp site! “A herd of 60 cows is the absolute minimum for me. Then we’ll be roughly at the national average and we’ll still be taken seriously as an agricultural farm. When my father saw the design for the new farm, he said: ‘If you start working nights, Peet (I only used to work on the farm during the day), I’ll stop milking.’ And I signed up for the milking robot there and then; I was already very keen on them. I haven’t regretted that decision to this day. I would never have been able to milk 60 cows with the old system and run a business like this at the same time. And if I sneak a look at where we’ll be 10 years from now, I can see two milking robots, each handling 50 cows. Then I’d have 100 cows and I’d be contracting out the calves. I’d be able to do that with an automatic feeding system. But that’s something for the future.”

Between tractor and office

As the son of a livestock farmer, from the day he was born (1973) Peter has had the opportunity to go down the same path. His get-up-and-go mentality made agricultural high school the logical choice for him, while his brother went to agricultural college. “I really wanted to get stuck in when I left school, but afterwards I did regret not going to agricultural college.” Peter now attends courses regularly on subjects as diverse as handling emails efficiently, managing staff and setting priorities. As a driven entrepreneur he even underwent a psychological assessment to find out where his business strengths lie. He is a people person, an initiator and an ideas man. Completing things is his Achilles heel. He needs other people around him for that. He prefers looking ahead and planning.

People person, initiator and ideas man

“To build on our concept, I look around a lot. I’m always working, even when I’m on holiday. I also spend a lot of time networking, I’m on the board of FrieslandCampina (district member) and I’m on the Rabobank board of members. I’m like a sponge. I’m not good at remembering names, but I find it easy to connect with people. I make a point of letting them talk about what they’re doing.

Searching for synergy

Most agricultural businesses start off as dairy farms and expand their activities gradually. “Nine times out of ten, the synergy on those farms is better than on ours,” Peter says. “We drew up a plan starting from zero and implemented it in sections. We won’t start looking for synergies until after it is all built and all the expenses have been covered.

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“Of course, there is some synergy: the cow is the central link between everything we do here. Soon we will start fine-tuning. I still have so many ideas and plans. At the moment all our milk goes to the cooperative (FrieslandCampina), but perhaps I will be able to make my own dairy products at some point in the future. I’m thinking about ice cream. Not cheese. Cheese is nice but you can only sell it in the shop. Ice-cream can be part of a total concept: pre-packed ice cream in the shop, cones on the terrace or along the cycle path, selling to upscale restaurants, and so on. Who knows – perhaps I’ll have my own brand of ice cream in five or six years’ time. At present I am focusing on running this farm profitably and honouring my obligations to the municipality. That means building the camp site, the restaurant and the group accommodation so that we comply with the zoning plan for a broad recreational target market.”

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Family life

“My wife and I both work here. But we don’t see much of each other during the day. She runs the childcare centre and does the staff planning for the shop. I do the cows, supervise the admin and I’m in charge of staff, sales and promoting the business. We are open to the public six days a week.

I LOOK AROUND SO MUCH THAT MY WIFE OFTEN SAYS: SHALL I DRIVE? WE’LL BE ON THE CRASH BARRIER IN A MINUTE

We try to eat with the children every evening. They watch TV in the living room first, and we have a glass of wine in the kitchen with the door shut. Then we can relax and catch up on each other’s news. Sunday is sacred for our family. We go to church together and spend the rest of the day relaxing. Thanks to the milking robot those incredibly stressful times are a thing of the past. Now we feed the cows on Saturday mornings and evenings and on Sundays I only need to check the robot and the cows. We go on holiday a lot: three weeks in the summer, a week’s skiing in the spring, and a week away in the autumn. That’s my outlet valve. And that’s where I differ from my colleagues, perhaps. If we had just had cows and the milking robot, I would have had an easy life. But we would never have been able to afford the new barn without the childcare centre.”

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PETER GILLE’S VISION ON

Sustainability:

Everything we’re doing here I am leaving to my children. That means thinking and acting with care and respect for man and nature.

Profitability:

There comes a time when the amount of money alone doesn’t determine whether you’re doing well. It’s the amount of leisure time and freedom you get, provided you are able to leave your farm. But you do need money to achieve this, of course.

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A pleasant working environment:

I WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MILK 60 COWS WITH THE OLD SYSTEM AND RUN A BUSINESS LIKE THIS AT THE SAME TIME

Living and working in a relaxed way and looking out for others. We lead a very social life with all the people who visit us every day. But we have too little time to give family and friends the time and attention they deserve. There’s still some compromising there.

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BETWEEN TRADITION AND INNOVATION

Dairy farms in Japan are traditionally family-owned. But like elsewhere in the world young people are becoming less interested in a traditional life on the farm. Ageing, a lack of successors, high feed prices and the strict manure regulations are forcing Japanese livestock farmers to try their hand at other things. However, automation in dairy farming can offer new opportunities: we discuss this with Hideto Nanbuya, director of Cornes AG, Lely distributor in Japan.

Milking robots to secure the continuation of the family farm

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The Lely Astronaut milking robot was introduced in Japan 15 years ago. “Not all farms that buy a milking robot abandon their conventional milking machines immediately,” says Hideto Nanbuya from experience.“ The parents often continue using the conventional milking machine, while the son gets cracking with the milking robot.” The milking robot should encourage the current generation, who want more free time and more flexibility, to take over the farm. But even if that succeeds, there is still the question of whether the young successor will find a partner to start a family with on the farm. And children are essential for any farm’s future succession. Most dairy farms that use robots for milking have between 50 and 60 cows. It is only on Hokkaido, the most northerly of the four main islands, that we find largescale dairy farms. That is not surprising, since the relatively low temperatures make the land less suitable for growing rice, the oldest and most important crop in Japan. There are approximately 8,000 dairy farms on Hokkaido who are responsible for half of Japan’s total milk production.

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY RUSSIA ------ NAME AND ADDRESS ALEXANDER & IRINA SAYAPIN TULA PROVINCE KIMOVSK DISTRICT ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 150 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS ONE LELY ASTRONAUT A3 NEXT ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 65 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 6,500 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING SEPTEMBER 2009 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Flexibility and the freedom to sell milk to consumers ourselves. Biggest change for the cows: The cows determine their own rhythm. Biggest change for the family: The milking robot has enabled us to set up a successful business and to make a good living out of it. A day in the life: “I am very happy with my business. We earn well, especially with the low running costs, and I have even been able to set up a second business. I am mainly focusing on producing and selling dairy products such as yoghurt, cottage cheese and sour cream. These products are already on sale in an upmarket supermarket chain in Moscow, Azbuka Vkusa (Taste Alphabet). I am proud of the contract I have signed with them.”

• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN • INCREASED FEED INTAKE • IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION • INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

CORNES AG: DISTRIBUTOR WITH AN ECOLOGICAL FARM

The Lely distributorship was set up 30 years ago, selling forage harvesting machines. Lely Astronaut milking robots and barn products were added in 1997. In 2001, Cornes AG set up its own ecological farm in collaboration with Rakuno Gakuen University. The farm with 180 dairy cows serves as a shining example of labour-saving with automation, individual cow management and its ecological basis. Three Lely Astronaut milking robots are being installed here. A biogas plant is also in the pipeline. And the full range of Lely barn products and forage harvesting machines will naturally be represented. The farm is frequently used to demonstrate the Lely milking robot. It is also a training centre for its workers and a trial garden for the Agricultural University of Japan.

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A real family farm Nathalie, her husband Jean and their son Steijn have divided up the jobs well. Nathalie checks the milking robots and looks after the high-attention cows. She also does the accounts and the housework and runs the ice cream parlour. Jean is responsible for feeding and looking after the cows and calves. Steijn works on his parents’ and his sister Ellen’s land, helped by his father-in-law. “We have grass, maize, sugar beet and wheat which we use for our cows’ rations,” Nathalie explains. Animal welfare and claw health are a top priority on Jean’s and Nathalie’s dairy farm. That is also in evidence in the new, comfortable barn which was designed and built in 2007. This barn was organised specifically around free cow traffic, work efficiency, ventilation and ease of feeding.

Energy from biogas

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A mini-digester is in the pipeline for spring 2013. By converting the manure from their cows into biogas, Nathalie and Jean hope to be able to generate 65,000 KW of electricity annually – enough to operate the two present milking robots and sell some back to the grid as well. The mini-digester is profitable with 70 cows or more, and they are also taking out a three-year maintenance contract. For the first ten years Nathalie and Jean will not have to pay any electricity bills and will be earning an extra €3,000. After that their investment will be paid off and they hope to get the full profit of around €18,000 per year.

Energy in problem children “As a care farm, we have been providing accommodation for young people with psychological problems for three years now. They work on the farm two days a week. The aim is to give these young people respite, structure and security and make them feel useful. It is extremely rewarding work, especially when you see them starting to feel safe and opening up,” says Nathalie. Now that her own children have grown up and the milking robot gives them flexibility, she is glad to be able to offer these young people a refuge. The care farms are coordinated by Steunpunt Groene Zorg, an organisation set up in 2004 to help vulnerable people with integration problems – whether caused by illness, a disability, a difficult upbringing or a delinquent past – to reintegrate into society by providing a programme of suitable activities. As of the end of 2011 Steunpunt had 667 care farms in Flanders.

• ICE CREAM PRODUCTION: 14 FLAVOURS

• 1 MILLION LITRES MILK PER YEAR

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• NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS: 130

• 2 LELY ASTRONAUT A3 NEXT MILKING ROBOTS

AUTOMATING, STRUCTURING AND MOTIVATING

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“We want to offer our employees a clean, safe and pleasant working environment where there is room for development and where they feel free to get involved and enjoy themselves. I myself experienced how important that is when I was working on various farms as a trainee during my studies.” In 2011, Ravninggaard, Ole and Bente Sørensen’s dairy business in southern Jutland, won the Working Environment Prize for Agriculture. The jury based its decision on interviews with the staff as well as two guided tours of the dairy farm. The cleanliness and tidiness throughout the business, the use of automated processes to reduce heavy and time-consuming labour and the involvement of the workers in managing the farm won it high scores. Thanks to the outstanding physical and mental working conditions, the farm staff enjoy spending time on the main task of the business: taking care of the animals.

Every year the Danish Agricultural Advisory Service grants an award to an agricultural employer who makes special efforts to create a good physical and mental working environment in his business, thus acting as a role model for his colleagues in the industry. “I got a telephone call while I was busy harvesting,“ Ole says with a big smile. “I was both happy and surprised. We owe our nomination to Jan Brøgger Rasmussen of the Scandinavian Lely service organisation. The first time the jury visited our business to talk to the farm staff, there were ten nominees. Three farms went on to be shortlisted, including ours. Then the jury visited us again and finally a telephone call put an end to the mounting tension. In addition to the award itself, we received a prize of DKK 25,000, which was more than enough to treat all employees to a wonderful night out.“

2010 — THREE NEW BALE WRAPPERS ADDED TO THE LELY ATTIS RANGE

• INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

• IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION

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• INCREASED FEED INTAKE

• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN

P I O N E E R S I N R O B OT I C M I L K I N G

Mutual respect and trust Sharing and celebrating successes is typical of the way Ole and Bente treat their personnel. Every day they have coffee and lunch together and discuss the jobs that need doing that day. But there is also time to share personal stories, express new ideas or give vent to possible irritation. “We strive for an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust so that everybody can feel free to be themselves,“ Ole says, “and that is only attainable if you, the owner of the business, are out there among your people and don’t keep yourself separate. We have done a lot of automation already but there will always be some troublesome chores. By getting the work done together with the boys, I make sure we have enough time left over for the fun work: taking care of the animals and observing them.“ Ole and Bente have three employees: Christian G. Petersen (24), the herd manager, assisted by 26-year-old Jens Rasmussen. Ole Hansen, 41, takes care of the grassland and maize. In addition, Ole’s parents Søren and Hannestill enjoy working on the dairy farm that Søren started in 1973 – with 40 Jersey cows – and that he subsequently sold to his son. At weekends they like to give Ole and Bente the freedom to take their four children to the playing fields.

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Peace and quiet, cleanliness and tidiness When you take a tour around the dairy farm, you notice straight away how light, spacious and clean the whole business is. “Poor milk quality is the result of poor management, dirty and unhealthy cows and poorly maintained milking robots. We want top quality in every aspect of our dairy management,“ says Ole. Five Lely Astronaut A3 robots plus an Lely Astronaut A3 Classic robot, arranged in two rows of three, divide the long barn into two parts. Every part provides accommodation for 200 Jersey milk cows. Ole and his farm workers have installed extra bars to narrow down the walk-in area. This gives the relatively small cows less room to move so that the teat cups can be attached more quickly to the low teats, which are positioned close together. The cubicles are spacious and clean. The cows lie on mattresses that are automatically covered with a layer of fine-cut straw. Via a rail construction, an automatic straw disperser goes round the barn twice a day (at 4.30 am and 4 pm) to apply a layer of fresh straw to each cubicle. The automatic

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ---------- COUNTRY SWEDEN ------ NAME AND ADDRESS BÖRJE & GUNNAR OLSSON OLSTORP LANTBRUKS AB NORRTO / 242 93 HÖRBY ------ NUMBER OF HECTARES 270 ------ NUMBER OF MILKING ROBOTS TWO LELY ASTRONAUT A2 ------ AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS 120 ------ AVERAGE 305-DAY PRODUCTION PER COW 10,600 LITRES ------ STARTED ROBOTIC MILKING MARCH 1998 ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----Biggest change for the business: Working days can be organized flexibly and the milking robot saves time. Biggest change for the cows: Three milkings result in healthier cows and more milk. Biggest change for the family: There is more time for leisure activities. A day in the life: “We get up around 5 am and take the highattention cows to the robot. Then we have time for a nice leisurely breakfast between 6 and 8 am. After breakfast we collect and distribute the rations, clear the manure and see to any cows with health issues. At around 12 it’s time for lunch and then we go back to the barn at about 4 pm. It takes us one and a half hours to check everything and then we close the barn for the night.”

barn curtains ensure effective ventilation. Nets are installed to keep visitors, children and employees from being hit by the barn curtain as it is being lowered.

Biogas for the municipality of Ribe Two Lely Discovery barn cleaners clean the slatted floors of the manure alleys. The manure is processed by a biogas installation which is owned by Ole and 24 other farmers in the vicinity. This power station supplies gas to the population of the nearby town of Ribe and its surroundings. The Lely Juno moves quietly along the feed alleys, constantly pushing the ration of silage and maize to the feed gates.

Jerseys – true prize-winners From the central office, there is a perfect view of the milking robots and cows. The office looks neat and congenial. “We spend at least one hour in this office every day,“ says Ole, “so we have to make sure everyone feels at ease in it. The champion cups and banners in the office were won at many shows. Occasionally our staff like to show our best Jerseys and we are happy to allow them the time to do so.“

"I like working with Jerseys" “My father started off with this breed. These cows are keen to learn and self-willed, which is also evident from their robot visiting behaviour. On a daily basis, we have 3.2 refusals for every 3.0 milkings. In terms of production, Jerseys supply fewer litres of milk than, say, Holsteins, but because of the high fat percentage (6.1%) and protein content (4%) in the milk their eventual yield is the same. We supply our milk to Arla for cheese production.“ Jersey cows are also beneficial in terms of environmental legislation. In Denmark, the number of cows a dairy farmer is permitted to keep is coupled to the size of his land and the cows’ impact on the environment. The relatively small Jersey cows have a smaller impact than Holstein cows, for example, which means more cows on the same number of hectares. Ole’s wife Bentetakes care of the calves, assisted by Ole’s mother. Currently, approximately 500 calves are born every year. The proportion of heifer calves is manipulated deliberately using sexed sperm. “Unfortunately there is no interest in Jersey bull calves,“ Ole sighs; he has no option but to end the lives of the bull calves

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• 2 LELY DISCOVERY BARN CLEANERS, 1 LELY JUNO

• BREED OF COWS: JERSEY

• NUMBER OF DAIRY COWS: 400

182 • 1 LELY ASTRONAUT A3 CLASSIC MILKING ROBOT

• 5 LELY ASTRONAUT A3 MILKING ROBOTS

at an early stage. “Not from the meat industry either. On the other hand, my heifer calves are much sought-after; last month I sold 130 animals for export to Ireland and Hungary.“

Personal ambition is decisive for success “I always tell students of agriculture how important it is to think about what you want to achieve in the future. It is not about what others expect from you; it is about what you want to achieve both with your agricultural business and in your personal life. The size of the business needs to be geared to your ambitions. I always wanted to become one of the best Jersey farmers in Denmark. I’m still working hard every day and the size of my business and the way we operate it fit in with that ambition. I always say: if I had to do it all over again tomorrow, I would do it in exactly the same manner.“

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TWENTY YEARS ON FROM THE REVOLUTION 6

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TWENTY YEARS ON FROM THE REVOLUTION

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With the launch of the first prototype of the Lely Astronaut milking robot in 1992, Lely introduced a revolutionary new way of working in dairy farming. Since then thousands of farmers worldwide have embraced this concept. So much has changed over the past twenty years, both on the dairy farms and at Lely itself. But Lelyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ambition has always remained unchanged: to go on developing ground-breaking initiatives that enable the agricultural sector to constantly adapt to the demands of the market and the community. Lely regards innovation as the only way forward, based on the key requirements for every development: sustainability, profitability and a pleasant working environment. A stable future in the dairy sector calls for solutions throughout the entire production chain: from grassland to feeding to milk production. Lely responds to this call with innovative concepts for the barn, forage harvesting and energyneutral farming.

1958 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

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LELY INNOVATES FROM GRASS TO GLASS

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“The feed the cows are given plays a crucial role in the success of a dairy farm. Both the quality of the feed and the consistency in feeding – on time and with sufficient quantity – ultimately determine your milk output and the health of your cows. And cow health is a key factor in free cow traffic, in other words how often they visit the milking robots, and, of course, in fertile reproduction.” So says Niels Havermans, Director Product Management at Lely, responsible for product policy across the entire range of products and services that Lely delivers to the dairy sector, from forage harvesting to automated feeding systems, barn cleaners and milking robots. Enthusiastically he describes Lely’s value chain approach “from grassland to feeding to milk production” and the unique Lely product range that reflects this: “Good feed management is one of the key factors that determine your farm’s financial results and therefore your future.”

From grassland to feeding “As a livestock farmer it is worth your while investing in grass and crop growing. That is logical considering that feed makes up a large proportion of your overall operating costs. Good quality forage helps you achieve the best return in several ways. The better the quality of the forage, the less waste you generate. And that way you can minimise your extra costs for concentrate. Plus you want to give your cows the best and tastiest food so that they eat more and produce more milk. So all in all, it’s true to say that good quality forage determines how profitable you are, both on the input side – feed costs, for example – and on the output side – meat and milk production,” Niels says. High-quality silage tastes good and is attractive to the cows, it does not rot

2010 — LELY ASTRONAUT A4 LAUNCH

or develop mould causing it to lose nutritional value, and it must not be crushed by processing or mixing equipment. These properties are to a significant extent determined by harvesting at the right time and using the right machines. “This is the first phase in the production chain that Lely supports: harvesting and preserving the forage as efficiently and as carefully as possible. The window for harvesting is often very small, so farmers and contractors must be able to rely on the capacity and reliability of their machines 100%,” Niels explains.

No milk without feed Once the forage is properly preserved, a well-honed feeding strategy determines the second phase of the production chain. Feed efficiency can be optimised by always feeding cows forage and giving each individual cow concentrate in line with her milk production. Niels explains: “With robotic milking it is very important to ensure a constant supply of high-quality feed at the feed fence. That way you enable the cows to follow their natural rhythm in eating, ruminating, resting and visiting the robot. Cows fed on a well-balanced diet feel well in themselves which impacts positively on their milk production and the frequency with which they visit the robot. You can encourage the cows to take in feed by pushing feed up to the feed fence a couple of times a day. This also encourages lowerranking cows to go to the feed fence and the milking robot more often. “With the introduction of the Lely Vector, our fully automatic feeding system, we have provided the final link in the chain between forage harvesting and robotic milking. The Lely Vector supplies the cows with fresh forage on time and in the right portions 24/7. That way their natural eating pattern dovetails seamlessly with their natural milk production rhythm. This not only benefits the cows’ health but also their milk production,” Niels says.

You get what you feed Niels continues: “By automating labour-intensive work in the barn, dairy farmers get to spend more time more on their feeding strategy. The Lely T4C (Time for Cows) management system for the Lely Astronaut milking robot and the Lely Vector feeding system delivers a raft of information on milk quality and individual cows’ health. So the farmer can adjust the concentrate in the milking

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• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN

LELY LEADING THE WAY IN FORAGE HARVESTING SINCE 1948

• INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

Together with Niels we look at Lely’s unique range of forage harvesting equipment. “Take a look through our range of machines and you’ll see straight away that Lely focuses on the quality of the forage and low-energy harvesting from A to Z. Take our Lely Splendimo mowers. The mowing unit is driven directly by a drive shaft, ensuring outstanding output from the cutter bar. This delivers high crop throughput and uses one litre of fuel less per hectare than other disc mowers. >> • IMPROVED FEED EFFICIENCY

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• IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION

• INCREASED FEED INTAKE

With the invention of the finger wheel rake in 1948, Lely placed itself firmly on the map as an agricultural company. Developments followed rapidly on each other’s heels. In 1958 Lely developed and produced the first single disc fertiliser spreader, and in 1965 it launched the uniquely shaped Lely Lotus hook-shaped tine. The development of the Lelyterra power harrow in 1968 gave Lely its real breakthrough. This development also marked the internationalisation of the company. In 1983 reaping technology received a huge boost with the introduction of the modular cutter bar. In 1992 Lely launched the Lely Astronaut milking robot, proving that it could also enhance the lives of farmers and livestock inside the barn.

robot at an individual level. But by connecting it to the Lely Vector automatic feeding system, for example, he can also easily adjust the composition and distribution frequency of the forage, making it much easier to focus on the cow’s needs. With more than 15,000 milking robots in 60 countries, we have built up a wealth of knowledge around the impact of forage on milk production. The Lely Farm Management Support Group links the experiences of thousands of clients to the individual dairy farmer’s specific data. They can advise farmers on feeding strategies and help them optimise their returns. Farmers can also compare the results of their feeding strategies with those of other farmers directly with the Lely T4C management system Benchmark Community.

From milk production to manure To turn the “from grass to glass” production chain into a sustainable loop around the cow, it is important to ensure sustainability in the quality and processing of the residual product from milk production – the manure. This development is boosted by the changing attitudes of society towards agriculture. The farmer is increasingly expected to produce sustainably with the environment and the citizen in mind. That means reducing emissions of gases such as methane (CH4) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). These emissions are heavily influenced by the kind of feed used and how it is processed. “So feed management plays a key role in this phase too, along with housing and manure refining,” Niels says.

Licence to produce The development of sustainable applications for the agricultural sector is and remains a focal aspect of Lely’s product and innovation policy. Niels explains: “We have always been passionate about the environment. So our products have a reputation for durability, low energy use and high efficiency. Now we are going a step further by helping farmers produce their products in an energy-neutral way. In a joint venture with Green Energy Technologies we are working on a sustainable manure refining system. By doing so we are helping farmers return what is left over from meat and milk production to Mother Earth in a responsible manner. We are also offering our clients a ‘licence to produce’ and an opportunity to grow their profits.”

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>> The Lely Lotus tedder has a uniquely slim design. Because it is angled forwards, the hook-shaped tine is much more flexible than the tines on conventional tedders. So it picks up all the grass during the tedding process without contaminating it with soil, manure or old crop residues. This also means that the grass is dried well and evenly.

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A good swath determines the capacity and cutting action in the next step: collecting the grass with the bale press, chopper or pick-up wagon. The clever design and the stability of our Lely Hibiscus rake deliver clean raking with no contamination of the feed with soil or dried manure. Farmers who go on to press their grass into bales incur costs for binding, winding, transport and storage. The fewer bales you have, the lower the costs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the principle underpinning our Lely Welger round baler. So the bale chamber produces the heaviest bales with perfect compression for good conservation of high-quality forage. The fermentation process gets under way as soon as the crop is pressed in a bale. So the bales must be sealed in airtight wrapping as quickly as possible. The Lely Attis winders do just that,â&#x20AC;? Niels concludes.

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PATENT LAWYERS WRITING HISTORY

Where can you always be sure to find a precise description of the state of the art at any moment in our history? Ask Ton Theelen, patent attorney at Lely, and he’ll refer you to a patent database. Developers move on, filing cabinets are emptied, but patents stay put. There is a wealth of information available on the internet from public patent documents covering the history of the Lely milking robot alone. We look back at some courageous attempts, dead ends and successful innovations.

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Anyone who sees patents as no more than protective structures full of boring legal details should talk to Ton Theelen. As one of Lely’s patent attorneys he is involved in describing and defending Lely’s innovations day in, day out. He also evaluates third party patents to ensure that Lely does not infringe them. Ton not only recognises the strategic and legal value of a good patent policy. Enthusiastically he explains that the development of the milking robot is probably best described in the hundreds of patents applied for during the course of its development. Lely has described virtually every invention, from serious proposal to dead end to successful innovation, in minute detail in patent applications.

Hundreds of patents for the milking robot Lely received its first patent for the milking robot in 1986. Hundreds more would follow, of which only a few dozen can actually be found in the robot. Ton explains: “Lely started pretty much from scratch when it developed the milking robot. You can see that from the many different attempts to connect the cow and the milking machine. Every idea was described in a patent application.” For example, one of the hundreds of applications describes a device that enabled the cow to wear

2012 — LELY VECTOR – AUTOMATIC FEEDING SYSTEM – COMES ON THE MARKET

her own milking machine all the time. Another idea was a cart that would catch the cow in the pasture and milk it. The patents from the very first hour of the milking robot show clearly that Lely has a history of agricultural machines. The drawings are dotted with metal rods and brackets to grip the cow while the teat cups are attached to her. Someone even suggested inserting a metal back plate under the skin to enable the location of the udders to be detected. Then a small, multi-disciplinary R&D team was formed, which included some engineers who had grown up on farms. This team came to the conclusion that the cow needs to be free if she is to present for milking voluntarily. The conclusion was that the robot should be able to track the cow’s movements and reward the cow for visiting it. To attach the teat cups to the teats, all kinds of robotic arms were envisaged: arms that rise up from the floor, five arms that move towards the cow like an octopus, and so on. But ultimately they opted for a sturdy arm that remains under the cow during milking, with a laser measuring system and teat cups that stay connected to this arm via a cord. And so the Lely Astronaut was born. Twenty years on, this basic principle still forms the heart of the current milking robot and delivers a number of key benefits over competing systems. Naturally, the system has been patented.

Clever tricks In the development of the prototype of the Lely Astronaut, 80% of the patents related to the hardware and 20% to the software. In the latest version, the Lely Astronaut A4, the ratio is now the other way round. “Back then computers were so slow that they could not keep track of the moving cow and calculate the teat positions. Now this is not a problem, but in those days it called for some clever tricks,” says Ton.

Patents no guarantee of staying one step ahead “Lely spends a great deal of time, energy and manpower on developing innovative products. When you do that, you don’t want other people to run off with your ideas. But patents are definitely no guarantee that you will stay one step ahead. You have to keep innovating to maintain your lead over your competitors.”

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• NO LABOUR, YET PUSHING 4 TIMES MORE OFTEN

THE FUNCTION OF A PATENT AND A LICENCE

• INCREASED ROBOT VISITS – 10.9% – ON ROBOTIC DAIRIES

A licence grants others the right to use your protected knowledge or place your patented product on the market. This enables you to earn back all or some of the development costs, get a product to market more quickly or gain access to markets that are difficult for your own company to reach.

• IMPROVED FEED EFFICIENCY

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• IMPROVED MILK PRODUCTION

• INCREASED FEED INTAKE

When a patent is applied for, the invention is disclosed to the public. This encourages technical progress. The reward for the inventor is the exclusive right to produce, use and promote a product during a certain period of time. A patent application is tested legally and technically to establish that the invention is novel and truly inventive; in other words, “Does the development go further than obvious change?”

Not all knowledge stays in-house. Lely also grants licences, sometimes to recoup development costs, and sometimes because it is better to grant a licence than to challenge competitors to circumvent the patent. Sometimes it is also necessary to create broad support in the market for a new development. In that case it is handy if several different companies use the same technology.

A patentable slurry tanker Lely has been actively involved in patent law since it was set up in 1948. And that is no surprise, bearing in mind that Lely founders Arij and Cornelis van der Lely started out with a design and patent bureau. Lely only started producing machines itself ten years later. Examples of major innovations that are still in use the world over today are the finger wheel rake (the Acrobat) and the power harrow. When we ask Ton to give us the best example of a patentable Lely invention, he starts to laugh. “It’s the best and also the dirtiest of all our inventions – our 1955 slurry tanker with the spreader plate. I believe an invention must stand the test of time, and the slurry tanker is still proving its worth today: it is a simple but robust product and relatively low-cost, so it is accessible to a large target group. Also, it is probably Lely’s most well-known machine among the general public.”

Toilet training for cows An example of an invention that didn’t make it despite being patented is the toilet trainer. The cow is fitted with a collar around the tail and a strap around the shoulder. When she lifts her tail the collar registers the movement. If this happens in an unusual place, the cow gets a small electric shock from the shoulder strap. If she does her business in the right place, she gets extra feed. The toilet trainer seemed to work but never went into production because it conflicted with Lely’s animal welfare philosophy.

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1958 — ONTWIKKELING EN PRODUCTIE VAN LELY KUNSTMESTSRTOOIER

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Since the ground-breaking introduction of the Lely Astronaut milking robot in 1992, many thousands of dairy farmers worldwide have switched to automated milking, and this development continues apace. With this anniversary book we would like to thank our customers for their trust and loyalty. Our thanks also go to all of our employees who have worked tirelessly to bring about the successful development, production and marketing of the Lely Astronaut milking robot.