DeLaval tops 2500 sales mark of feeding stations in a year

Feeding each cow to her individual needs throughout the lactation cycle increases milk production, optimises use of feed, helps promote animal welfare,
reduces concentrate waste, saves energy and helps cut CO2 emissions. “Healthier cows produce more milk which in turn increases profits.
Less overfeeding of cows reduces feed costs, up to 5% less feed is needed,” DeLaval Vice President Business Area Capital Goods Andrew Turner said.

Dairy farmers today are interested in solutions that help them cope through volatile times of uncertain milk and feed prices. The DeLaval feeding stations’ success lies in: their capacity to adapt to individual feeding plans for improved cow health and production efficiency, their support in managing body condition score, and their ability to stimulate regular milking intervals in voluntary milking systems.

The DeLaval feeding stations, harnessed with the company’s herd management systems or stand alone feed processors, enable farmers to programme individual feeding plans for every cow based on her lactation cycle and milk yield. Cows can access their personal concentrate in small portions regularly throughout the day.

“Dairy farmers know that feeding cows individually optimizes their general health, milk yield and fertility. With our feeding stations they can also step up feed intake at the start of lactation and reduce it towards drying-off. This helps them save costs on expensive concentrates by avoiding overfeeding,” Turner said.

Yet, for DeLaval cost control also means finding ways of using
resources more efficiently. The DeLaval FSC40/400 feeding stations are part of the company’s Sustainable Dairy Farming (SDF), an initiative to support dairy farmers do more with less with solutions that meet environmental challenges, respect animal welfare and benefit customers and society.

Regular feeding maintains a stable rumen pH what facilitates the uptake
of nutrients and reduces the risk of metabolic diseases, which links the FSC40/400 to the list of products that DeLaval includes in its SDF list.

DeLaval launched Sustainable Dairy Farming (SDF) in 2008, a holistic approach to sustainability based on measuring and improving the performance of a dairy farm in terms of four interlinked resource pillars: Animal Welfare, Environment, Social Responsibility and Farm Profitability.

“We are delighted with these sales results because animal welfare, energy efficiency and input cost reduction are the cornerstones of our feeding solutions development. Our commitment is to achieve greater efficiency to strengthen dairy farmers’ finances and protect the environment,” Turner concluded.