At the invitation of Lely, every two years members of the Red Cow Community meet somewhere in the world during an inspiring event. Attendees are owners of large dairy farms with more than 500 milking-cows that operate with eight or more Lely robots. Key for these farmers is to gain new ideas applying available resources and new technologies for optimizing their business operations and making our food chain more future proof, while respecting human and animal.
Together with local Italian customers, Lely representatives and Italian partners, the four-day programme contained a mix of information about farming and dairy production as well as social interaction. Presentations and workshops encouraged collaboration amongst all attendees. Masterclasses offered the opportunity to look at common challenges from various angles and discuss sensitive subjects.
Multiple company visits to local dairy farms and producers were also part of the programme. Two local Dairy XL farms shared their way of working and how they use Italian traditions in agriculture combined with the latest technologies in ensuring a sustainable future for the next generation. To understand how dairy is locally valorized and consumer demands are met, the community also visited a production facility of Italy’s famous cheese; Grana Padano. Followed by understating the quality process of a Grana Padano distributer and their distribution to 60 countries over the world.
The Red Cow Community is based around providing inspiration, connections and networking. By connecting knowledge from around the world and learnings from the value chain, the farmers can collect valuable new insights for their business,” said Coert van Lenteren, Global Head of Dairy XL at Lely. “During this event in Italy we particularly looked at how we could engage our Dairy XL customers how local farmers valorize their milk.”
It was great to see that language is not a barrier to get everyone engaged. By connecting different cultures, attendees were able to share new insights for the challenges each of them are facing in a beautiful Italian environment. For Lely, the Red Cow Community is key in our improving our sustainable solutions for our total customer base around the world, whether small or large businesses. Connecting these large dairy farms really makes a difference for the future of dairy farming.”
The dairy farms in the Red Cow Community play an important role in Lely's mission to make a sustainable contribution to feeding the world through innovative solutions. A partnership that provides a lot of inspiration for both dairy farmers and Lely.
Lely founded the Red Cow Community in 2017, to reward special ‘Dairy-XL’ customers for their loyalty. Companies operating with eight or more Lely robots can participate. Thanks to the proven success and experience of large herd management through the Lely Dairy XL concept, partnerships with owners of large dairy farms have now been built across countries such as Canada, Argentina, Belarus, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Italy, USA, Russia, Germany and Turkey.