Dairy farming
Resources on dairy farming in Ontario, including feeding and nutrition, cow care, facilities and more.
Introduction
Dairy farming represents the largest sector of agriculture in Ontario. In Canada, dairy is a supply managed commodity which means that producers are required to purchase quota to participate in the market.
Dairy cattle produce an average of 30 litres of milk daily. The most popular breeds of dairy cattle are:
- Holstein
- Jersey
- Ayrshire
- Brown Swiss
- Guernsey
- Milking Shorthorn
- Canadienne
Learn more about the dairy industry in Canada — including quota and regulations — through the Dairy Farmers of Ontario and Dairy Farmers of Canada.
The Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle serve as the national understanding of care requirements and recommended practices.
General
Learn about how to start a farm, the dairy industry and best practices for animal care.
Health
Learn about common illnesses in dairy cows and how to maintain herd health.
- Dairy cow teat condition scoring
- Teat cup style and herd mastitis risk
- The warning signs of mastitis: deciding when to treat dairy cows
Care and handling
Learn about dairy cow care, calf management and how to humanely euthanize and dispose of calves.
- Improve your dairy heifer management program
- Dehorning of calves
- Castration of calves
- Cull cow decision action card
- On-farm euthanasia of cattle and calves
Feeding and nutrition
Learn about feeding, nutrition, water quality and the effects of mould and mycotoxin in dairy feed.
- Water quality for dairy cattle
- Using nutrition to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus output on dairy farms
- Feeding dairy cattle to reduce excess nitrogen output
- Dietary phosphorus in dairy cattle
- Managing dairy rations when feed prices are volatile
- Dry and close-up transition cow mineral and vitamin nutrition
- Body condition scoring of dairy cattle
- Faba beans as protein in livestock feed
- Coping with poor hay crop quality
- Feed analysis reports explained
- Comparative feed values for ruminants
- Definitions of feed manufacturing and livestock nutrition terms
- Potential nitrate poisoning and silo gas when using dry weather damaged corn
- Potential feeding challenges from dry weather conditions
Mould and mycotoxins
- How mycotoxins can impair milk production
- Effects of mouldy feed and mycotoxins on cattle
- Mycotoxins in dairy feed
- Alleviating mould and mycotoxin problems
- Feeding mould and mycotoxin contaminated wheat to ruminants
- Soil, leaf and petiole tissue, and forages and feed testing labs
Learn about illnesses commonly linked to feeding and nutrition:
- Sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) in dairy cows
- Dietary cation-anion difference and hypocalcemia (milk fever) prevention
Housing and facilities
Create a low-stress environment for dairy herds and improve energy efficiency with proper housing and ventilation in your barn.
- Farm buildings, equipment and the environment
- Using less energy on dairy farms
- Handling milking centre washwater
- Manure handling options for robotic milking barns
- Gravity manure transfer systems for dairy barns
Layout and construction
- Layout options
- Developing the plan and procuring services and materials for constructing a new dairy barn
- Milking centre design and construction for parlour milking
- Cow behaviour to judge free-stall and tie-stall barns
- Tie-stall dimensions
- Free-stall dimensions
- Floor finish options for dairy free-stall housing
Lighting
Ventilation
- Ventilation options for free-stall barns
- Positive pressure air tube ventilation for calf housing
- Ventilation in livestock and poultry barns
- Ventilation heat exchangers in livestock barns
- Tunnel ventilation in livestock barns, with and without evaporative cooling