DeLaval AMR Commercial Installation Sold in Germany

The dairy farm where the automatic milking rotary will be installed is located in
Schlossvippach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It represents the first
commercial installation to be sold on the German market.
DeLaval International announced today the next commercial installation of the DeLaval
AMR which will be in Germany. This is yet another significant step for DeLaval as we enter
the German market with the AMR. This system is a revolution in high capacity milking and
what farmers with herds of 300-800 cows have been waiting for, said DeLaval Vice President
Business Area Capital Goods Andrew Turner.
The Laproma Farm in Schlossvippach, Germany was founded in 1991 and is a former
agricultural production co-operative. The dairy farming division of the operations at
Laproma is a significant part of the business that also includes cropping, beef cattle (40 ha
grassland), and biogas production. The farm is currently milking 900 cows and sees
opportunities for growth. A whole new site will be set up for the DeLaval AMR and will
consist of a new barn and dairy center that will be built up in two phases from 2011-2013 for
an additional 800 cows. The first milking is planned for September 2012. In addition a
second biogas plant is also being planned; the existing unit has been in operation since 2009
with a capacity of 499 kw.
The Managing Director for Erzeuger-und Handels-AG LAPROMA Schlossvippach, Mr.
Dietrich Kirchner says, Our goal was and still is sustainability and growth in milk
production, with our existing production we have a very good level of 900 milking cows and
an average milk yield per year of 10 500 Kg, but we cannot grow further on the same site.
The Laproma Farm currently has 43 employees in total with 22 of them focused on the dairy
farming branch of the business. Sustainability also means having the right personnel and
we are not only a young team with a highly professional education but also have ambitions
for milk production. In the new production unit we will be fully focused on animal health,
environment, animal welfare and cow comfort and of course an excellent working
environment for our people, continued Mr. Kirchner.
The DeLaval AMR has been developed with three key customer benefits in mind;
profitability, farm management and flexibility. The main components of the system are teat
preparation, attachment and teat-spray modules, two touch screens to operate the system,
automatic cup back flush, automatic floor cleaning and safety systems. The first AMR
systems will have up to 90 cows/hour capacity, depending on the number of robots installed.
As many as five robots can be attached to the rotary.
The challenge to develop the AMR was to bring to market a flexible system that works
equally well on all types of farming operations. Another key fundamental is scalability so dairy
farmers can start with a lower level of automation and then increase as their business grows.

This flexibility is a major advantage allowing our customers to grow at their chosen pace,
Andrew Turner said.
DeLaval is testing the AMR on farms in Sweden and in Australia and will implement
commercial installations in those markets also during 2011 with availability in other selected
markets in 2012.
Every day millions of dairy animals are milked, fed and maintained by DeLaval solutions in
more than 100 countries worldwide and DeLaval meets with over 10 000 milk producers on
their farms.
DeLaval has over 125 years of innovation and experience in the dairy business, supporting
dairy farmers in managing their farms their way. Our Sustainable Dairy Farming initiative is
contributing to the production of more quality food, for more people, with less impact on the
environment. Our Smart Farming strategy aims at influencing and shaping the future of dairy
farming today. The goal is to accelerate the transition from milking management to global farm
profitability management by harnessing emerging decision tools and automation technologies
for better quality milk and profits. DeLaval is a company of the Tetra Laval Group. For more
information please contact Kim Sjlund Communications Director at DeLaval International
kim.sjolund@delaval.com/ +46 530 662 77

http://www.hoards.com/IB_DeLaval-AMR

Milk prices
Cowed
Supermarkets promise to pay farmers more for their milk

Aug 22nd 2015 |

THE past few years have seen a desperate fight for market share among Britains
supermarkets, sharpened by the relentless rise of Aldi and Lidl, two successful Germanowned discounters. Tesco, the biggest, Asda, Morrisons and others have reported some
of their largest-ever losses. They might have been hoping for a period of relative calm to
restructure their businesses and repair their balance-sheets. No such luck.
Thanks to a string of changes affecting the world dairy industry, most significantly the
end of European Union quotas on milk production, falling demand in China and Russian
sanctions against EU dairy producers, there is a glut of milk. That has led to falling
prices everywhere. Britains dairy farmers, says Phil Bicknell, head of food and farming
at the National Farmers Union, have experienced brief price drops before, but nothing
on this scale. Except for a brief respite in February, prices have been falling every
month for well over a year. And it could get worse.
Milk producers have been venting their anger and frustration on the supermarkets,
where most of the stuff is sold. Angry farmers have been herding cattle down
supermarket aisles and activists have been buying up shelves of milk only to pour it
down the drain, in protest against low prices. They claim that, unless the supermarkets
pay more, many dairy farmers will go out of business.
Yet for retailers, milk has become a prime weapon in the battle for profits, or even
survival. As Julian Bailey, head of marketing at Morrisons, puts it, if we are not
competitive on milk prices, then some of our customers, particularly the more budgetconscious ones, will just shop elsewhere. Indeed, this price war has resulted in
supermarkets cutting spending on liquid milk relentlessly, especially this year. Since
2007, according to Kantar Worldpanel, a research outfit, the amount of milk sold in
Britain has risen by 11% to a projected 5.5 billion litres this year, but the value of sales
has fallen from 3.5 billion ($5.5 billion) in 2009 to an estimated 3.2 billion this year,
the lowest figure since 2007.
Confronted by bovine protesters followed by television cameras wandering down their
aisles, the supermarkets have been forced to respond, and prices are edging up. On
August 17th Aldi, Lidl and Asda started to pay a minimum price of 28p per litre, well
above the average price paid directly to a farmer for milk of 23.64p (the so-called
farmgate price). Even so, that is still below the cost of production, which farmers claim
is about 30p per litre. Tesco, Sainsburys and a few others already pay a bit more than
the cost of production.
Morrisons, the fourth-largest supermarket, has pledged 26p a litre later this month. It is
also introducing a new brand, Milk for Farmers, which will cost 10p more per litre,

money that it promises to pass straight to farmers. This gives shoppers the opportunity
to put their money where their mouths are if they want to support British farmers.
Morrisons own research suggests that, at least in theory, 41% of its customers are
happy to do this.
Yet the dairy industry could do more itself. There has been much rationalisation in the
sector in recent years, but the farmgate price of British milk is, at the moment, the fifth
most expensive among the 15 older EU members. This is partly due to short-term
currency movements, but it also suggests that Britains dairy farmers could become
more efficient.