TORONTO — A high-profile new conference about modern dairying, hosted in Toronto by the group formerly known as the Ontario Large Herd Operators — the Progressive Dairy Operators — will spread its tentacles into southwestern Ontario during what should prove to be a very interesting, post-event bus tour.

First on the schedule for the tour, taking place Friday, March 5, is the oft-awarded Hamilton-area Summitholme Farms operation of Dave, Carl and Ben Loewith. The 320-cow dairy, on sand bedding, features the new AfiMilk’s new Performance Plus pedometer system from AfiMilk, through which stress levels or comfort experienced by farm animals can be assessed.

Next up is the high-production, three-times-per-day, parlour-milked Hoenhorst Farms herd of Woodstock, operated by Gerrit and Margriet Wensink. In April, 2008, the Wensinks expanded into a new, 360-cow, slatted floor, freestall barn featuring six Lely robotic milking stalls, robotic slat scraping, dual chamber water beds, and perimeter feeding. This farm also features robotic calf feeding and has participated in DHI field trials using RFID ear tags in herd management.

Other stops on the tour include the four-row, freestall operation of Henk and Dinie Kremers and their son Arjan and his wife Marleen. And there will be a visit to a dairy with a DeLaval robotic milking system.

Registration for the tour can be done without attending the full conference, at a cost of $75. Buses will depart at 7:30 a.m. promptly from the conference host hotel, the Doubletree Hilton in Toronto.

Those interested in large-scale dairying, however, probably won’t want to miss the entire conference. It runs March 2-5, and is billed as “the First North American Conference on Precision Dairy Management.” Sponsorship duties are shared by the Progressive Dairy Operators, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, the University of Guelph, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and CanWest Dairy Herd Improvement.

Workshop sessions cover a wide range of topics, and feature speakers from across Canada and beyond. The following is just a small sampling of the learning opportunities:

• Prevalence and Risk Factors for Skin Lesions on Legs and Neck in Dairy Cattle Free Stall Housing in Norway;
• HOBO Pendant G Acceleration Data Loggers: Adding Precision to the Assessment of Cow Comfort in Tie-Stall Operations;
• Recent Studies Using a Reticular Bolus System for Monitoring Dairy Cattle Core Body Temperature;
• Planning of Large Scale Farms with Robotic Milking Systems;
• Robotic Milking of Buffaloes: a Preliminary Survey on Milking Capacity of Automatic Milking Systems;
• Is a Lifetime Rumen Monitoring Bolus Possible?

“In the same way that mechanization and expansion have improved productivity in the last 20 years, precision technologies will drive dairy industry progress in future,” stated a Progressive Dairy Operators news release. “We invite you to join us as we explore practical applications of dairy automation and management using sensor based data.

“This conference will examine the state of the art technology available today, and the limitless possibilities for the future.”

The final date for electronic registration is February 25, 2010. After this date only fax registration will be available. The organizing committee cannot guarantee participation and meals after February 25, 2010.