Dairy equipment specialist DeLaval – established in Sweden by Gustav de Laval in 1893 – is celebrating 100 years of trading in Great Britain. Some British dealerships have worked with DeLaval since the beginning, and still work with farms that installed DeLaval equipment in the 1920s.
“Our dealership network has been the backbone of our British success, helping DeLaval to forge strong relationships with British farmers,” UK and Ireland sales territory manager Ciaran Murphy said. “Mathers, operating in Scotland and North-west England, is the longest standing DeLaval dealer in the world, having been with the brand since 1923.”
DeLaval was the first to introduce rotary milking parlours in 1930. In the 21st century, the rise of robotics has been the primary growth market for the brand as farms have struggled with skilled labour and equipment maintenance costs.
“Robots have marked a new era in dairying,” Mr Murphy added. “Herd sizes have doubled since the millennium and labour shortages have become a concern worldwide.
“Our milking robots have been designed to improve cow health and yield, but also to restore a sense of balance to farm life by freeing up valuable time.”
Data-driven farming has also led the brand to develop farm software to monitor every aspect of the milking process, from detecting cows in heat to identifying potential yield losses as a result of mastitis.
“Our Think Big initiative has helped hundreds of farms to plan for growth, and monitoring systems such as DelPro are helping herd managers to reduce costs, improve cow welfare and create more sustainable farms,” Mr Murphy said.
Despite a focus on technology, the brand still manufactures one of the widest ranges of dairy equipment, from brushes and cleaning products to clusters and conventional milking parlours.
