Lely: 3 yellow revolutions for dairy farms

Lely has presented 3 new so-called Yellow Revolutions for dairy farms. The first is a barn system for circular manure valorisation, in which ammonia emissions can be reduced by 70%. The second is a concept for autonomous fresh grass feeding and the third is a new management program.

The most eye-catching, however, are the Lely Sphere and the Lely Exos. The Lely Sphere is a barn system in which urine and solid manure are separated at the source. The urine runs through the slatted floor via strips and holes and ends up in the pit. From here, the nitrogen from the urine is sucked out by a vacuum, after which it is collected in a kind of air scrubber. Lely calls it a nitrogen scavenger.

The nitrogen that is collected can later be applied by the dairy farmer on the land. About 10 to 20 kilos of nitrogen are collected per cow per year, says Gijs Scholman, Chief Commercial Officer of Lely. The underpressure in the well also reduces odors.

separating manure
The solid manure is sucked up from the ground by the Lely Collector and deposited in a separate pit. This ensures that no ammonia is released when, for example, mixing urine and solid manure in the pit or spreading the manure. The manure can also be used better, with the nitrogen that has been collected, the potassium from the urine and the phosphate from the solid manure. This allows a dairy farm to operate in a circular manner, explains Scholman. Lely reports that this innovation can reduce ammonia emissions by up to 70%.

Lely plans to launch the Sphere in the course of next year. Initially, the focus will be on the Dutch market. For dairy farms, the invention could be interesting for extending or obtaining environmental permits if nitrogen emissions can be reduced by at least 70%, emphasizes Scholman. Lely therefore wants to obtain a certificate for this from the Ammonia and Livestock Farming Regulations (RAV). According to the company, this can be realized in the third quarter of 2021.

Robot mows fresh grass
Lely's second innovation is the fully electrically powered Lely Exos. This robot can drive into the grassland, mow fresh grass here and feed it to the cows later. This saves on fuel and concentrates, because the fresh grass is used better, in contrast to grass silage, so that cows have less or no need for concentrates. The robot can work in combination with the Lely Vector feeding robot, which signals the Exos when grass needs to be mowed again.

In addition to mowing in the same working pass, the robot can also apply the collected liquid nitrogen from the Lely Sphere to the field. Offering the fresh grass to the cows is of course only possible during the growing season. A test company showed that the Exos could continue to drive onto the land to mow grass until the beginning of December. This is due to the Exos' light weight and wide tires, Scholman reports. Lely expects to be able to market the Exos in a few years' time.

The results on the experimental farms showed that feeding freshly mowed grass can yield an extra 3 kilos of milk per cow per day, says Scholman. The stock of grass silage can be reduced by half. In terms of cost savings, this results in a profit of approximately 2 cents per liter on the test farms, according to Scholman. 

Back to one comprehensive management system
The latest yellow innovation from Lely is the new management system that should make it simple for the livestock farmer, because he only needs to log in to a system to get all the information. Lely calls it the Lely Horizon. This system should also replace all of Lely's old management systems. Lely expects to launch this platform on the market in early 2021.

New to this platform is Lucy, this digital voice can give advice on how to solve problems in the company. In addition to Lucy, the KPIs are in the foreground, they indicate a number of critical points that require attention. This allows the dairy farmer to act quickly. The system also tracks down cows that suffer from lingering milk fever, which is a major problem but very difficult to recognize. The system is available in two different packages, one more comprehensive than the other.

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