Lely Vector Newest Dairy Farm Innovation

Sep 14, 2012

Lely Vector Feeding System Launched Into Canada

One of the leading innovators of dairy farm technology – Lely – launched the Vector at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. Lely, a Dutch based company is best known for its robotic milker technology and the Vector, an automated TMR mixer, is the newest addition to its product line. It’s been hailed as the “perfect solution to every dairy farm” and a way to revolutionize the way dairy farmers feed their cows. Efficient high quality production is vital to any dairy farm and Lely has engineered a way to make feeding cows more efficient and cost effective.

The Lely Vector is a robotic feeding system and has four attractive traits:

1.Flexibility – the automatic robotic feeding system allows the farm operator to only have to focus on feeding the cows once every three days. It also allows the farmer to decide what type of feed strategy the farmer wants to implement on his or her farm.
2.Fresh feed – the feed is able to retain its high quality since it’s served fresh multiple times a day which is healthier for the cows and will increase milk production.
3.Return on your investment – fresh feed reduces waste and energy consumption is boosted.
4.Sustainability – reduces labour input which ultimately saves costs.

The Lely Vector can feed a 300 head herd mix of cows and heifers and it has the capacity to feed roughly 200-240 milking cows. The price tag is stiff - it’s in the same ball park as a robotic milker system.

Some of the other features that Lely was showcasing at this year’s Farm Show include its A-4 robotic milker technology. The A-4 changes the way that cows exit, also known as I-flow, and it improves the capacity of the robotic milker machine. Lely also added some sensor technologies and the way it transports milk on the A-4 robot.

How does it work?

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.