A new innovative on-farm milk processing system providing new opportunities for farmers to future-proof their businesses by marketing their own milk, has been launched.

The system from Lely, aims to add value and subsequently increase overall dairy farm incomes.

Called the Lely Orbiter, the automatic system processes milk directly from between two and four Astronaut robots to bottle and operates 24/7 to meet with the highest food safety standards.

Alexander van der Lely, chief executive of the company said: “The Lely Orbiter offers farmers a smart way to produce fair, direct, and pure dairy products and to increase the value of their milk.

“The Orbiter is able to separately process milk from small batches of cows, consequently it allows

farmers to differentiate in the dairy marketplace and explore new opportunities. For example, milk taste and composition varies according to cow breed, lactation phase, diet and potentially to season," he said.

According to manufacturers, the system matches the high-quality standards of large industrial-scale processors. Shortening the production chain and improving traceability, the system safeguards milk quality and taste as direct on-farm processing is much faster and offers a shorter route from cow to consumers. Now, consumers will be able to trace the milk back to individual cow families.

"The reduced number of steps from farm to consumer ensures freshness and purest taste of product,” he concluded.