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

Screen shot of Dr. Christine Baes speaking to the camera in the dairy barn

Watch

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.

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.