More than ever dairy farmers need to make the most of the resources they have. Farmers look to the latest technologies to ensure they can produce high quality milk at a lower cost. They work to increase the welfare and productivity of their animals in doing so are using feed, water, energy, as well as time spent on managing the farm and milking efficiently. This way they keep the cost per kg of milk sold as low as possible and reduce the related environmental impact.

“In these economically challenging times we continue to team up with our customers for lasting results. From our leading position in dairy farming, we keep innovating and providing integrated solutions. As a global leader we also have a role to play in making the world more sustainable and secure”says Joakim Rosengren, President and CEO DeLaval. He adds, “The vision of DeLaval is to make sustainable food production possible by supporting dairy globally. What we do is clearly in line with three of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, namely: Zero hunger, Climate action, and Responsible consumption and production.”

DeLaval has a string of solutions, in the field of farm management and milking systems, including consumables and services. Products which improve working conditions are: the milking robot DeLaval VMS™, the monitoring solution DeLaval InService™ Remote, DeLaval Teat Spray Robot (TSR). Products which improve animal welfare in particular are: the DeLaval Swinging Cow Brush, ventilation and illumination solutions, the teat dip Ocean Blu™, the Clover liner™, DeLaval Body Condition Scoring BCS, the milk analysis system Herd Navigator™, the Easy Stride™ hoofbath solution, the feed Feedtech™ range and Calf-care solutions. Several products aimed at improving animal welfare also have an indirect benefit on the environment. By increasing the productive lifetime of the cow farmers can increase the output from the farm while reducing the need for feed, land and water per kg of milk produced.

The demand for dairy products is expected to grow globally by 177 mega tonnes (23%) by 2025 compared to 2013-15*. This additional milk will have to be produced within the environmental limits of the natural ecosystems of the planet, as reflected by the UN Sustainable Development Goals relating to the use of water, oceans, land, energy, and climate impact. Shorter term the biggest challenge for most dairy farmers is to be profitable as the milk price remains low while the cost of feed continues to be high in relation to the milk price.

DeLaval supports the UN goal of Zero hunger by developing and providing products that can help dairy farmers increase their productivity and the production of their animals. By using the milking robot DeLaval VMS™, high yielding cows can be milked 3 times per day instead of 2 and give more milk.

The goal of Climate action is supported by products that save energy on farm such as the DeLaval heat recovery system that can recover up to 60 percent of the heat extracted from cooling milk and convert it to hot water for use in pipeline and parlour cleaning. Methane emissions from dairy cattle are mainly related to rumination and can best be mitigated by improving the productivity of the cows over their lifetime. The DeLaval body condition scoring helps securing that the cows have healthy body fat reserves thus promoting milk production, reproductive efficiency and cow longevity.

The UN goal of Responsible consumption and production is supported by DeLaval products and services that help farmers reduce food losses along the milk production chain, including post-harvest losses of feed. Many farmers accept that 10% of all feed will be left over – however with DeLaval Optimat™ that can be reduced to just 2%. This means a farmer can reduce feed waste by up to 80%.

The company also supports this target as it integrates sustainability information into its reporting cycle distributed via www.delavalcorporate.com. The reporting is made in line with the GRI G4 and corporate governance is designed in line with the UN Global Compact.

For more information on our take on sustainability see
http://www.delavalcorporate.com/sustainability/