Agriculture · head to head
Lely Horizon vs Nedap Livestock Management
Lely Horizon
Agriculture
Dairy herd management software billed per lactating cow that only runs a Lely robot barn
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Nedap Livestock Management
Agriculture
CowControl and Velos sensor platform sold almost entirely through OEM partners rather than direct
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Lely Horizon billing is per lactating cow, so the software cost grows with the herd indefinitely and a farm that expands from 120 to 200 cows takes a permanent software cost increase it did not budget when it bought the robots.; Nedap Livestock Management nedap publishes no pricing whatsoever and sells through dealers, so two comparable farms routinely pay materially different amounts for the same sensors and there is no rate card to argue against.
- They diverge on capability: Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Nedap Livestock Management covers Smarttag Neck and Leg.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Lely Horizon and Nedap Livestock Management actually diverge.
| Attribute | Lely Horizon | Nedap Livestock Management |
|---|
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android, Windows), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Agriculture).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Lely Horizon
- Per-cow milking data
- Health and fertility alerts
- Work list generation
- Feed management
- Farm Management Support
- Multi-site view
- Mobile alerts
- Reporting and benchmarking
Only in Nedap Livestock Management
- Smarttag Neck and Leg
- Heat detection
- Health monitoring
- RealTime positioning
- Velos sow feeding
- Automatic sorting
- Nedap Now
- Open OEM platform
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Lely Horizon
- A 180-cow dairy running four Astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a daynot Nedap Livestock Management
- A farm adding Vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milkingnot Nedap Livestock Management
- A dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one accountnot Nedap Livestock Management
- A Lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth boxnot Nedap Livestock Management
Nedap Livestock Management
- A 500-cow loose-housed dairy where finding a single flagged cow by eye wastes twenty minutes a timenot Lely Horizon
- A sow unit moving to group gestation housing that needs electronic feeding to comply with welfare rulesnot Lely Horizon
- A farm that wants heat detection independent of the milking parlour manufacturernot Lely Horizon
- An equipment maker embedding proven animal monitoring rather than developing sensors in-housenot Lely Horizon
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Lely Horizon
- Billing is per lactating cow, so the software cost grows with the herd indefinitely and a farm that expands from 120 to 200 cows takes a permanent software cost increase it did not budget when it bought the robots.
- Horizon is not optional: the barn equipment depends on it, so the subscription cannot be cancelled in a difficult year the way a discretionary analytics tool can, which removes any negotiating position at renewal.
- It manages Lely equipment and effectively nothing else, so a farm running a Lely robot alongside a conventional parlour or another manufacturer's feeder ends up with two systems and no combined cow record.
- The migration from the older T4C system was compulsory and rebuilt the interface and reporting, and farms that had years of T4C reports and custom lists found the equivalents either missing or shaped differently, costing retraining time.
- Everything is bought and supported through the local Lely Center, so pricing, response time and the quality of advice vary by dealer with no published rate card, and a farm with a weak local centre has no practical alternative supplier.
Nedap Livestock Management
- Nedap publishes no pricing whatsoever and sells through dealers, so two comparable farms routinely pay materially different amounts for the same sensors and there is no rate card to argue against.
- A large share of the technology ships inside other manufacturers' branded systems, which means the support you get, the firmware version you run and whether you can access the raw data depend on the badge on the box rather than on Nedap.
- The system needs in-barn antennas, readers and a processing unit installed and commissioned, so the sensor price per cow understates the project cost and retrofitting an existing shed adds cabling work.
- Adding RealTime positioning generally requires more antenna infrastructure than basic heat detection, so a farm that starts cheap and wants positioning later faces a second installation rather than a software toggle.
- Nedap N.V. is a listed company with several unrelated divisions and livestock is one segment among retail, healthcare and security, so roadmap priority for agriculture competes with businesses that have nothing to do with farming.
Pricing, plan by plan
Lely Horizon
On request- Horizon Basic$undefined/month
- Core robot operation and monitoring
- Per lactating cow subscription
- Invoiced digitally by the local Lely Center
- Horizon Control$undefined/month
- Adds herd management and fertility tooling
- Per lactating cow subscription
- Horizon Advance$undefined/month
- Adds analysis, benchmarking and advisor tooling
- Per lactating cow subscription
Nedap Livestock Management
On request- Nedap CowControl$undefined/year
- Smarttag Neck or Leg sensors per animal
- Barn antennas, readers and processor unit
- Heat, health and rumination applications
- Nedap Velos$undefined/year
- Electronic sow feeding and separation
- Heat detection for group housing
- Nedap Now cloud access
Which should you pick?
Choose Lely Horizon if
- You need per-cow milking data.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
- You also want health and fertility alerts.
Choose Nedap Livestock Management if
- You need smarttag neck and leg.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
- You also want heat detection.
Questions people ask
- Is Lely Horizon or Nedap Livestock Management better?
- Neither clearly leads. Lely Horizon starts at On request and Nedap Livestock Management at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Lely Horizon or Nedap Livestock Management?
- Lely Horizon starts at On request and Nedap Livestock Management at On request.
- Does Lely Horizon or Nedap Livestock Management run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- What is Lely Horizon best used for?
- Lely Horizon is most often used for a 180-cow dairy running four astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a day, a farm adding vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milking, a dairy manager tracking transition cow health across two sites from one account, a lely advisor benchmarking a client's robot utilisation against comparable farms before recommending a fourth box. Of those, a 180-cow dairy running four astronaut robots that needs the attention list to replace walking the barn twice a day and a farm adding vector automatic feeding that wants ration delivery driven by the same cow data as milking are not what Nedap Livestock Management is typically brought in for.
- What can Lely Horizon do that Nedap Livestock Management cannot?
- Lely Horizon covers Per-cow milking data, Health and fertility alerts, Work list generation, Feed management. Nedap Livestock Management covers Smarttag Neck and Leg, Heat detection, Health monitoring, RealTime positioning.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Lely Horizon: How is Lely Horizon priced?
As a subscription per lactating cow milked by the Astronaut robots, in Basic, Control and Advance tiers. Lely does not publish rates; the local Lely Center quotes them.
Nedap Livestock Management: Can I buy Nedap direct?
Usually not. It sells through regional dealers and through OEM partners who rebadge the technology, so your quote and your support both come from an intermediary.
Lely Horizon: Can I run Horizon without Lely robots?
No. It is the control and management layer for Lely equipment and has no meaningful function without it.
Nedap Livestock Management: Am I already using Nedap without knowing?
Possibly. Several dairy equipment manufacturers embed Nedap sensing under their own brand names, so check what the tags in your barn actually are before buying a second system.
Lely Horizon: What happened to T4C?
Horizon replaced it. Migration was required rather than optional, and reporting was rebuilt rather than ported.
Nedap Livestock Management: What does RealTime positioning need?
Additional in-barn antenna coverage beyond what basic heat detection requires, which is why it is cheaper to specify at installation than to add later.
Lely Horizon: Does the subscription end when the robot is paid off?
No. It continues for as long as the robots are milking, which is the cost most robot business cases understate.
Nedap Livestock Management: Does it work with my milking parlour?
It integrates with several major parlour and herd management systems, but the depth varies by partner, so confirm the specific combination before ordering.
Related pages
More on Lely Horizon
More on Nedap Livestock Management
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