Pasture
The Ontario Beef Research Centre has access to 300 acres of pasture across four plots. Typically, cows spend from mid-May to mid-October on pasture unless they are required to stay indoors for research trials.
Ontario Beef Research Centre – Elora
The Ontario Beef Research Centre is a unique, state-of-the-art, 165,000-square foot research centre that is a world-class platform for discovery, learning and outreach. It is the result of a vibrant collaboration among the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), the University of Guelph and the Ontario beef industry. It enables research that drives innovation and supports the sustainability and prosperity of the beef sector in Ontario and Canada. It is located in Elora, Ontario.
The Elora site of the Ontario Beef Research Centre features:
- Two barns, with accommodations for 288 mature cows and 120 heifers perfectly configured to facilitate research
- 48 group-housing pens for cow-calf pairs, 40 maternity and special needs pens and 20 group-housing pens for replacement heifers
- Two top-of-the-line hydraulic chutes for handling cattle
- 184 feed intake monitoring systems and 16 creep feeders for calves
- Four laboratory spaces, including a sample storage lab and a clean lab for genomics research
- 300 acres of pasture
- Meeting room and office space
Research areas and outcomes
Research at the Ontario Beef Research Centre in Elora focuses on feed, nutrition, reproduction and performance. See the list of current research studies.
Tours
Research stations are closed to non-essential personnel until further notice. Researchers approved to conduct critical and/or time-sensititve research at a station or facility must abide by site-specific protocols.
Please contact the research station outreach coordinator for more information:
- Phone: 226-971-0768
- Email: researchstation.info@uoguelph.ca
Take a virtual tour of the Ontario Beef Research Centre - Elora
Cow-calf housing
The facility consists of two identical state-of-the-art barns. The cow-calf housing section has 24 pens and can accommodate six cow-calf pairs each, for a capacity of up to 144 cattle, or 288 across both barns.
Handling area
Designed to follow recommended best-practices for cattle transport, the Handling Area is an integral part of this research facility.
Maternity area
The maternity section includes twenty maternity and special needs pens. Cows about to calve or those in need of bed rest are brought here and given one of these spacious enclosures.
Contact Us
Technical Foreman: Tysson Amidon
Ontario Beef Research Station
Manager: Joe Parkinson