Lely's 1,000th milking robot installed in Poland

The 1,000th automatic milking robot from agricultural technology maker Lely in Poland has been installed on a dairy farm in the Wielkopolska region owned by Alina and Tomasz Szymczak. Six of the company's robots now work on the farm. The milestone was marked at an event in the town of Żnin, attended by more than 400 farmers, company representatives, and staff and owners of Lely Center. Lely Center outlets are local partners responsible for selling, installing and servicing the robots.

From the first robot to one thousand

Lely began selling and delivering milking robots in Poland in 2010. The first Lely Astronaut robot was started up on 26 January 2010 on the farm of Urszula and Dariusz Kołtuniak in Mazovia, with the installation taking place in winter under difficult weather conditions. After about 15 years of use, the farm replaced it with a newer model, the Astronaut A5 Next.

Reaching 1,000 installations took 16 years. Timo Jansen of Lely International said the first 500 took about 12 years, while the next 500 were installed in under five. He said the next thousand would come considerably faster. According to data presented, twice as many A5 robots as earlier A4 models now operate in Poland. In 2026 the company had 246 robots sold, prepared for transport or already working on farms.

What automation offers

The company's vision rests on improving working conditions, producing good-quality milk, supporting cow welfare and reducing environmental impact. In an automated system a cow can approach the robot when she is ready to be milked, so there is no rigid schedule in which the whole herd is milked at set times. The systems also collect data on milking and animal activity and provide alerts and suggestions.

A robot does not replace herd management or daily observation of the animals. Results depend on how well the technology fits the farm, work organisation, feeding, barn preparation and correct operation of the system.