Lely introduced robotic milking in Canada ten years ago and today still is the uncontested market leader. “That is something to be proud of.” comments Jerry Claessens, General Manager, Lely Canada. “During the first years the focus was on selling the concept as many farmers were very sceptical about robotic milking. But thanks to some entrepreneurial dairy farmers who were looking a bit further ahead and believed in the concept from the beginning we are proud to say that today robotic milking has been accepted in Canada. A lot of our early owners helped Lely in convincing the more reserved farmers, especially through open houses hosted at their farms.”

“For the future the biggest challenge still is expanding the Canadian marketplace.” Jerry Claessens indicates. “In Europe more than half of all recently installed milking systems are robots. From that point of view we just starting in Canada but I am sure we are getting there as well. It is simply the future of dairy farming; automation will become more and more common.”

Jerry Claessens concludes by saying: “Through spreading the news of the robotic milking concept we have given many farmers the lifestyle options they deserve. I consider this to be an accomplishment our whole team can be proud of.”

Since 1999, Lely has been active in Canada and installed the first Lely Astronaut robotic milking system in 2000. Lely Canada stands for quality products, innovative solutions and a passion for the dairy business. Via the Lely Center facilities Lely Canada provides state of the art solutions to Canadian dairy farmers. The 10 year robotic milking jubilee will be celebrated in Canada with customers during the Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock, Ontario.