NZ Dairy
DAIRY PEOPLE » Lely NZ Ltd
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Lely farmers blaze robotic trail Russell Fredric Lely New Zealand general manager dairy Sam Andersen considers himself fortunate to have been part of the first Waikato robotic installation in 2012. Since starting as Lely New Zealand’s service manager six years ago, he has seen huge growth within the company nationally and internationally as Lely cemented its position globally as the number one robotic milking company. The first Lely robot milking system to be sold in the world was in 1992; the company has since sold more than 20,000 robots to date. In 2008 Lely installed its first Astronaut robot milking system in New Zealand on a farm in Canterbury. Over the years Lely has developed a strong network of farmers in New Zealand, referred to in-house as Lely Ambassadors, who are constantly pushing the boundaries and blazing the trail for the future of dairy farming. Within this group, a strong holding of farmers are utilising the ABC Pasture system where cows are freely grazing and visiting the robots for milking whenever it suits. The economics of robotic milking systems compare favourably to conventional systems, Sam Andersen says. “There is a common misconception that robots are not a financially viable option for the bulk of New Zealand farmers, but with increases in production, efficiencies, and a reduction in the physical footprint of infrastructure required, robots are very comparable to conventional
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PHOTOS: Lely Calm automatic calf feeders (above) and Lely milking robotics in action on a Hamilton farm (below).
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e: chris@corohawk.co.nz www.corohawk.co.nz
Lely CenterTM Hamilton Philip Mitchell (021) 190 6901 pmitchell@lely.com
Lely CenterTM Waverley Trevor Ward (021) 921 048 tward@lely.com
Lely CenterTM Feilding Trevor Ward (021) 921 048 tward@lely.com
Lely CenterTM Canterbury Giles Tinning (021) 784 427 gtinning@lely.com
Lely CenterTM Invercargill Reese Hegarty (027) 558 8770 reese.hegarty@jj.co.nz