23 March 2025 Integral Health Dairy Farm Open Day

About

Curious about what it takes to run a “healthier farm and modern farm”, focusing not only on environmental protection but also wellbeing of cows and people? Come along to our Integral Health Dairy Farm Open Day and get hands-on with interactive activities to showcase how we designed a farm to support a fully holistic farm aiming to Integral health of the soil, the plants the cows and the people consuming dairy product from it.

Dairy Overview

Try your hand at milking with our milkable udders!
Test your knowledge: What does involve healthier milk for us?
Compare cows’ from this to conventional farming. The cows in this farm are unique.

Browsing & Nutrition

Participate in our food choice experiment – Are cows in this farm offered diverse and healthier diets? Does having choice matters?
Explore a real pasture and discover what cows love to eat.
Experience the Pasture Poem Challenge and forage for different feeds and medicines.

Pasture & Technology

See how much less cows in this farm impact the environment? And how we measure it.
Learn about the role of medicinal trees, shrubs and aromatics and how we manage it them in this farm?
Join a scavenger hunt to explore the latest dairy technology for cow, human and environmental health – and be in to win!
This is a family-friendly event—a great opportunity for all ages to get up close with a vision of sustainable and ethical dairy farming, and the future of food production.

Sunday 23rd March

1 pm to 5 pm

Ashley Dene Research Development Station,

736 Bethels Rd, Springston, Canterbury

Society is increasingly aware of the connection between the health of the land, of animals and of humans. Visions of ‘foodscapes’ and ‘healthscapes’ are eclipsing the conventional view of landscapes focussed solely on production. Aotearoa’s dairy farming systems must co-evolve with this thinking.

Lincoln University has designed and is implementing the Integral Health Dairy Farm to test and communicate these new and transformational systems views. Its objective is to innovate, to demonstrate and to manage a tangible transition from current practices to a system designed to enhance health, from the ground up. This includes measured improvements in soil, plant, animal, human and community health

Due to space, health and safety and biosecurity limitations registration is essential