Dairy Farmers of Ontario Announces Grand Opening of the New Livestock Research and Innovation Centre-Dairy Facility

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 25, 2015) - Dairy Farmers of Ontario ("DFO") is proud to announce that on May 28, 2015 the Livestock Research and Innovation Centre will host an Open House for visitors to tour the state-of-the-art Dairy Facility.

In January, Canada's Minister of Agriculture, Gerry Ritz, announced a federal government contribution of $3 million towards this project. DFO would also like to thank MP Michael Chong and MP Bev Shipley who have been instrumental to the success of this initiative.

"We are grateful for the Federal government's support of the new state-of-the-art dairy research facility at the Elora Research Station. Together with provincial and industry contributions, we are proud to complete a project that will benefit farmers, consumers and the Canadian economy for many years into the future," said Ralph Dietrich, DFO Board Chair.

The Research and Innovation Centre is a joint project involving the Provincial Government, which provided $20 million to the project, through the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario (ARIO), together with the University of Guelph and stakeholders from the Ontario dairy industry who helped raise the balance of funds required for the project. The new facility is designed to address the research, education and training needs of the dairy sector that will have a lasting benefit for generations to come.

DFO would like to thank our more than 30 industry donors who provided valuable support to the project. The names of the companies and organizations are provided in the attached list.

To attend the Open House on May 28, please register using this link: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=noe7rlrab&oeidk=a07eawl2t6te37dcf05.

About The Livestock Research and Innovation Centre - Elora Dairy Facility

The Livestock Research and Innovation Centre - Elora Dairy Facility centre will house 240 free-stall dairy cows in eight groups for replication of research trials, and 24 cows in tie-stalls for projects where more research instrumentation and cow monitoring is required. Special needs housing such as maternity and calf nurseries are also available. Ventilation systems have been enhanced, with controls to provide more consistent control of the environment, so as not to undermine the accuracy of research results. A rotary parlour plus a voluntary milking robot simulates the differing requirements of the dairy industry. There are facilities for preparation of laboratory samples, and space for fractionation equipment for further processing of milk on-site.

About Dairy Farmers of Ontario

Dairy Farmers of Ontario, a not-for-profit organization, is proudly owned and operated by Ontario dairy farmers. It is the marketing group for the largest sector of Ontario agriculture.

To view a full list of contributors, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/dfo0525contributors.pdf.