2014 John Turnbull Award

HAROLD K. HOUSE, P. Eng is the recipient of the 2014 John Turnbull Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership in industry, teaching, applied research and extension in the area of dairy farm building systems. Harold has worked tirelessly on various aspects of dairy farm building systems over the past 30 years. He has developed the OMAF Free Stall Housing Seminar along with the Free Stall Housing Manual. He has also developed a Tie Stall Housing Seminar, and a Calf Housing seminar, along with a Tie Stall Housing Manual and calf housing resources. He was a recipient of the T.R. Hilliard Distinguished Agricultural Extension Award for his work with Ontario dairy producers.

Harold House has spent his entire career in building systems and waste management; started his career in the agricultural private industry designing innovative livestock barn ventilation systems; has done hundreds, if not thousands of hours teaching students, farmers and industry personnel; has performed both peer-reviewed University research and applied research on farms; has worked for more than a generation as an extension agricultural engineer; and been a member of the Society for about 35 years.

Harold is respected provincially, nationally and internationally for his innovative thinking and detail-oriented work with the ever changing dairy industry. During Harold’s career, the dairy industry has consolidated tremendously and Harold has been there assisting it to keep the industry economically viable, while recognizing the social implications of changes to these traditional ‘family farm’ operations. Comfortable cow stalls, natural and fan-ventilation, very wide free-stall barns, robotic-milking, waste handling, heat stress reduction, sand bedding, fire-resistant barns, quota challenges, organic milk operations, new manure handling and storage systems, tingle voltage, anaerobic digestors, calf hutches, labour challenges, the Nutrient Management Act, the Dead Animal Disposal Act, siting of dairy barns by the Minimum Distance Separation formula, the Progressive Dairy Operators organization…Harold has been involved ‘knee-deep’ in every single issue affecting the dairy industry over the past 30 years.

Harold, the person, is extremely modest, preferring to let others take the credit, while quietly leading by example in the background. He is the most honest, fair, respectful, and unselfish man I’ve ever met. Harold is recognized among his peers as being thorough in everything he does. OMAF Agricultural Engineers know that Harold’s motto must be ‘if it is worth doing, it is worth doing well’, something good mentors can pass along to mentees. Harold truly does think outside the box, and he has a wry sense of humour honed through his work with hundreds…no thousands….of farmers across North America.’