Tour Planning.

Through my involvement in the Ontario Progressive Dairy Operators, I have coordinated numerous tour programs for dairy farmers in Ontario as well as the North Eastern US and the rest of the World. I am available to help you organize a tour program for any size of group here in Ontario or elsewhere.

Upcoming Tours

There are no upcoming tours planned.

Past Tours

August 18 to 21, 2015 A group of 83 Progressive Dairy Operators, mostly from Ontario, toured 10 leading-edge dairy farms in central Alberta including a Hutterite Colony, parlor dairies with close to 15,000 kg milk per cow and herds with the latest in robotic milking and feeding systems. Other stops included a feedlot with 20,000 head on feed, an innovative supplier of farm building components and the Wetaskiwin Agricultural Museum. This tour was a PDO event planned usung DairyLogix services.

March 25 to April 2, 2015 A group of dairy farmers and advisors from Finland spent a week in Ontario visiting a wide diversity of efficient dairy farms to explore different management styles and technology. The tour included visits to farms with 4 brands of robotic milking systems ranging in size from 50 to 500 cows, as well as farms with automated feeding systems and the top two DHI management score herds in Canada. The group also enjoyed a day of sightseeing in Niagara and a part day in Toronto.

August 18 to 25, 2014 Progressive Dairy Operators toured farms in Denmark and Sweden, including stops at a DeLaval robotic rotary, The DeLaval headquarters in Tumba, and farms with a variety of automated feed delivery systems from Lely, Trioliet, DeLaval and Mullerup. we also learned about the European experience with consumer demands for animal welfare standards, environmental standards, organics etc. and we came home, better equipped to deal with these emerging issues here.

August 21, 22 and 23, 2012 Two bus loads of farmers from eastern Canada toured 16 dairy farms in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. Stops included the largest dairy in Canada, University of British Columbia's Research Farm, 3 dairies using two brands of bedding composters, high producing robotic milking herds ranging from 1 to 6 robotic milking stalls, well managed large dairies with recycled sand bedding and flush lanes, and five sites focussing on direct marketing and consumer education, including a large berry producer. Click to see the pictures on the PDO website.

March 28 - April 3, 2012 A bus load from Finland spent 7 day visiting 19 robotic milking farms in Quebec and Ontario. Farms included 2 Galaxy, 4 DeLaval and 13 Lely dairies ranging in size from a 50 cow organic herd to the largest robotic milking herd in North America with 19 robots. The tour also included a Quebec maple syrup experience, and dinner in the Skylon revolving restaurant in Niagara Falls