Smarter management system for automatic feeding improves results

Lely today introduced new software for its Lely Vector automatic feeding system that has been on the market since 2012. The new Lely T4C management software is smarter and much easier to use. It offers dairy and beef cattle farmers more insights and control over their feeding process and results. This helps them to increase the return on their feeding investments. Lely has redesigned the entire software based on user experience. Ration settings and analysis can be performed on a desktop PC, while a smartphone is used for operational management. This software is available for all existing and new Vector users.

Oct. 24, 2016

Press

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Using the Lely Vector mixing and feeding robot and its Lely T4C management system enables farmers to optimise their feed strategy. With the Vector, each group of animals receives the appropriate ration several times a day. Every group within the herd always gets the right quantities of feed for the cows’ age and phase of the lactation cycle. The Lely Vector minimises labour, feed costs and fuel consumption and provides fresh feed for healthy and productive cows.

PC and smartphone

The desktop version of the Lely T4C management system provides reports that offer more insights into feed costs in relation to milk and meat production. These reports help dairy and beef cattle farmers to assess their feed accuracy and efficiency and execute management decisions based on real-time information. Having these facts available is particularly useful in planning and evaluating the feeding ration and strategy with feed advisors. The smartphone version has been developed for daily use. It controls the Vector feeding system and enables users to check the actual status and act upon it.

Easier to use

Lely used the feedback from many users to make the T4C software easier to use. The feed grabber, for example, now has default settings for almost every type of feed for more precise feeding. Based on these settings it knows exactly how it should grab for the desired weight. Ration settings for specific animal groups can be entered on one clear screen. Beef cattle farmers can also feed their animals according to their own fattening curve. The Vector adjusts the ration automatically depending on the age of the animals.

Higher return on feeding investments

The new software has been developed to get the most out of the feed. It offers more possibilities for setting the loading order and mixing process for a better mixed ration. The maximum number of feeding groups and feed types has been increased to ensure that all animals can be fed exactly according to their needs. It is also possible to set the minimum feed height for different times of the day. This way the system can adapt to variations in feed intake throughout the day caused by milking (in the case of a milking parlour), grazing, weather conditions, machine maintenance, etc. When cows are fed exactly what they need, when they need it, losses in quantity and quality are reduced to a minimum, ensuring a maximum return on feed costs.

More information about the new Lely Vector software is available via the Lely Center facilities.

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