The history of Lely

On 2 June 1948, Cornelis van der Lely’s first successful patent is registered for a finger wheel hay rake, the Lely Acrobat. It marks the foundation of our company.

The spread plate for the slurry tank is patented. Another milestone in agricultural mechanization. 

Introduction of the single-disc spreader, which is also the first product to be manufactured in series by Lely itself.

Lely starts a factory in prefabricated bungalows. Houses, offices, hotels and even children’s day care centres are eventually built with Lely’s prefab elements. 

Market introduction of Lely Lotus, with a uniquely designed tedder tine to turn crop faster and more evenly. 

Market launch of the Lely Roterra power Harrow, later called the Lelyterra. It marks Lely’s international breakthrough. 

Market launch of the Lely Optimo modular cutter bar. With fewer gears than any other cutter bar, it ensures outstanding output and fuel savings. 

Olaf van der Lely becomes CEO of the Lely Group, succeeding his father as head of the company. 

Installation of the first prototype of the Lely Astronaut milking robot at two Dutch dairy farms. The official market introduction follows in 1995. 

Launch of the Lely Lotus 1325, the world’s largest tedder for decades in terms of output and quality. 

Alexander van der Lely succeeds his brother Olaf as CEO of the family business. 

Launch of the Lely Hibiscus 1015 Profi, the world’s largest twin-rotor central delivery rake. 

Introduction of the Lely Discovery manure scraper, Lely’s first autonomous vehicle on the market. 

Introduction of the Lely Juno automatic feed pusher. It marks a major step towards the automated supply of roughage to livestock. 

Launch of the Lely Vector feeding robot, offering automated, flexible and fresh feeding of cattle. 

Launch of T4C InHerd apps, putting milking robot management at the farmer’s fingertips. 

Introduction of the Lely Astronaut A5 and the Lely Orbiter for on-farm milk processing during the first ever Lely Future Farm Days. 

André van Troost becomes the first non-family CEO. At the same time, Lely establishes a Supervisory Board. 

Introduction of three major innovations: the Lely Sphere manure handling system, the Lely Exos autonomous mowing and feeding system, and the Lely Horizon farm management platform. 

On 2 June, Lely celebrates a remarkable milestone: its 75th anniversary.  

Launch of three innovations during the Yellow Revolution event: the Discovery Collector C2 for sand bedding, the Juno Max feed pusher for large-scale farms, and the Zeta concept for smart monitoring.

During the Future Farm Days, Lely launches Astronaut A5 Next, Astronaut Max for large-scale farms, and Lely Hub for digital resilience and data security.