BANNOCKBURN, IL – The coronavirus pandemic has shifted the focus of many dairy producers to safeguarding the health of their families and employees and maintaining the biosecurity of their operation. While the restriction of outside visitors has temporarily closed the door on traditional dairy tours, it has opened another avenue for information sharing and engagement.
DeLaval is pioneering, yet again, a new way to connect with dairy producers using video and web-based “live” presentation tools. Launched earlier this spring, the company’s Virtual Dairy Tour Program delivers a farm-to-screen experience to dairy producers interested in benchmarking with other farms and discovering new ways to achieve their goals. The tours are open for all, but attendees are asked to pre-register.
“At DeLaval, we have always taken pride in our tour program,” says Gavin Strang, Market Development Director for DeLaval in North America. “From our experience, we know that producers value the ability to see, touch and ask questions about the technology that other producers have chosen for their own dairies. This firsthand perspective adds valuable credibility to our solutions, but it also enables a dialogue that you can’t get from a website, a brochure or a social media post. That invaluable experience is what we’re hoping to replicate with these virtual tours.”
DeLaval has hosted several virtual tours since May and plans to continue offering new tours once or twice per month through the end of the year. Each tour features a pre-recorded video walk-thru, a live presentation of the farm’s milking technology showcasing the farm owner’s experience, and ample time for attendees to ask questions.
“The goal is to offer a little something for everyone—truly showing how diverse our solutions and capabilities really are,” Strang adds. “We have toured a dairy in California currently converting its entire 800-cow herd to VMS robots, and we’ve also featured customers milking conventionally with our PR3100HD rotary and latest conventional parlour, the Parallel Parlor P500.”
Producers are invited to register for an upcoming virtual tour or view videos from previous tours.
Source : DeLaval