What is Dairy XL?
Dairy XL is a global team of people put together to help, guide, and advise existing robotic farms going through growth, and prospective producers on the transition from conventional milk production onto an automated system.
The global team has a wealth of experience in the large herd segment so they are ideally placed to offer guidance on what will or won’t work practically and offer solutions and ideas that may not have been considered previously.
Dairy XL covers installations of eight Astronauts and more, or farms where there are over 500 cows being fed using the Lely Vector. We also help existing Lely farms grow and upscale their systems to become Dairy XL farms. These farms are collectively known as our Red Cow Community.
Why do larger herds need a specialist?
Contrary to popular beliefs, the advantages of switching to an automated system for a large herd will be far greater, but then so can both the technical and practical challenges. There are so many critical areas to think about for a successful transition such as the farm’s current, medium and long term goals and whether the farm can be adapted efficiently. Would transitioning in stages be appropriate and what are the labour requirements now, during the process and in the future? There are also financial considerations and new standard operating procedures that will need to be adopted along the way.
Modern dairy producers are business people and will have the ability to think about those factors and work out their own solutions. The Lely Dairy XL team can help with the process, problem solve, give ideas, offer technical advice and share experiences.
Is Dairy XL a new offering in GB and Ireland?
Dairy XL is the natural progression for GB and Ireland. Over the past twenty to thirty years the dairy industry has seen producer numbers naturally shrink, and in turn, herd size has increased. This has been seen across the world. Lely can now bring global knowledge and experience to the GB and Irish markets.
With every generation looking for more efficiency, a better work-life balance, and finding labour hard to come by, we feel that the Dairy XL team has an increasingly important role to play in shaping the future of our dairy industry. We know we can help with efficiency and profitability, but also with something that we often forget about: We want to make farming enjoyable both now and for the future.
What can British and Irish XL farms learn from Lely farms in other countries?
The growth in herd size that we are currently seeing in GB and Ireland is a stage that countries such as America and Denmark went through several years ago. With that in mind, our Dairy XL clients have the huge benefit of our “Global Hindsight”. As a global company, Lely has experienced the pitfalls of the past, and now has a clear path to sustainable growth that makes a transition go smoothly for our clients.
Once the transition has occurred, our Dairy XL producers can benefit from the operating procedures and protocols that have been tried and tested overseas in larger herds for longer periods of time.
The Dairy XL team is integral in orchestrating knowledge transfer and constantly striving for best practice within the Red Cow Community. As this community grows, we aim to give those clients the ability to benchmark themselves with similar operating systems and like-minded individuals so that together there can be greater improvements in efficiency in the future. This can come in the form of webinars on a range of differing subjects, to national on-farm days, right through to international tours and learning, the possibilities really are immense.
Overall, we want our clients to be proud Red Cow Community members and feel that their partnership with Lely brings them on-going value and support.
CLICK HERE to read part 2 where Ben tells us more about how the Dairy XL works with its farmer clients. Find out more about Dairy XL by visiting: www.lely.com/gb/solutions/dairy-xl/