Ontario Dairy Research Centre

The Ontario Dairy Research Centre at the Elora Research Station is leading dairy innovation through education and collaboration. It is a state-of-the-art 175,000 square foot facility for discovery, learning and outreach. This centre is the result of a collaboration among Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, the University of Guelph and the Ontario dairy industry. It is owned by Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario and managed by U of G through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance.

This unique facility offers:

• Accommodations for 300 mature cows and 300 heifers
• 240 free-stalls for lactating housing, 24 tie-stalls for special project housing, 72 stalls for close-up/dry cow housing and 18 pens for maternity housing
• Flexible individual or group calf housing
• Four milking systems (rotary parlour, VMS robot, tie-stalls, maternity)
• Feed intake monitoring and control systems
• Sample preparation and storage facilities
• Intensive care and procedure room
• Training/meeting facilities
• Closed circuit video throughout the facility
• Integrated ventilation system
• Robotic calf feeding
• Raised bulk tank

Experience the leading-edge world of research, learning and outreach

See how the Ontario Dairy Research Centre is improving productivity, training students and conducting research to be applied on dairy farms in Ontario and around the world. Look inside the Ontario Dairy Research Centre.

Research areas and outcomes

Areas of research and outcomes are two-fold: to support Ontario’s dairy industry and to provide consumer benefits.

• Dairy industry research includes animal health and welfare, genetics and genomics, animal and human nutrition, management and technology, and product development.
• Consumer research includes the creation of a patented feed ration that helps cows produce DHA-laden milk, and a testing procedure and management tool to identify animals with high immune response rates that can be passed down to offspring.

Explore the Ontario Dairy Research Centre

Take a 360º virtual tour: The Ontario Dairy Research Centre is an unparalleled research, learning and outreach environment where a broad array of scientific studies are possible. See it virtually.