
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 a partnership between the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario, OMAFRA, the University of Guelph and the Ontario dairy industry.
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
Research areas and outcomes
Areas of research and outcomes are two-fold: to support Ontario’s dairy industry and to provide consumer benefit.
- Dairy industry research includes animal health and welfare, genetics and genomics, animal and human nutrition, management and technology, and product development.
- Consumer research includes 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.
Manager: Joe Parkinson
joe.parkinson@uoguelph.ca
Dairy Centre Foreperson: Jeff McFarlane
jemcfarl@uoguelph.ca
Dairy Centre Foreperson: Amy Richardson
aricha25@uoguelph.ca
For tour inquiries please contact:
researchstation.info@uoguelph.ca