Healthy Cows - The making of

We recently published four so-called 'Healthy Cow' videos. In this series of four videos, "Free Cow Traffic", "Relaxation", "Hygiene" and "Fresh Ration" we explained in a light hearted way the ideas behind four of our products (Lely Astronaut, Luna, Discovery Collector and Vector).

In several ways this was a unique project for Lely. Not least in terms of the complexity of production. The shoot in the office lasted a full December weekend from Saturday morning early to late Sunday evening. No less than 15 colleagues figured as "woman-in-elevator", "sandwich-eating-man" or something similar. Yet it was mainly the cows (from farmer Jacob) that impressed. They showed themselves to be true professionals without any star-like stature…

The four episodes

Celebrating our Healthy Cows stars

Free Cow Traffic

With Free Cow Traffic, the cow decides when she eats, drinks, lies down and is milked. This improves her well being. By taking care of our cows and putting extra effort into cow comfort, we are able to extend lifetime milk production. Sufficient space in the barn will also give the cow the opportunity to display her natural behavior and improve her overall well being.

Relaxation

Grooming is natural behaviour for cows and it removes itchy spots on cow’s skin. It is shown that cows mostly groom hard or difficult to reach places like head, back (tail) and neck. Normally in a barn cows groom on concrete walls and sharp edges which can be dangerous. Therefore it is important that cows have a safe place to groom.

Hygiene

Healthy dairy cattle offer optimum productivity, require less attention and are a pleasure to work with. It is a frustrating fact that mastitis, reduced fertility and foot health issues still count as the top three reasons for culling on dairy farms. A clean barn floor keeps feet, legs, udders and tails cleaner and helps inhibit the growth of bacteria. This reduces hygiene related feet and udder health issues.

Fresh Ration

Increase the efficiency and profitability of your feed strategy by feeding your cows more often. More frequent feeding stimulates frequent eating day and night, which means cows ingest more fodder. This has a positive impact on animal health, fertility and production, and also benefits your bottom line.

Why Lely?

Farmers all over the world make choices about how they set up and run their farms. Every day, we help them make the best choices for themselves and their farms. We do this by providing advice and innovative solutions that contribute to efficient farm management. For sustainable milk and meat production. Present and future.

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