The South Dakota State University Department of Dairy and Food Science includes undergraduate and graduate programs in dairy production, dairy manufacturing, and food science, with 7 full-time faculty members and approximately 75 undergraduate students. Facilities in the Dairy and Food Science Department include the Dairy Research and Training Facility, with housing for 140 head of lactating cows in a modern free-stall barn and parallel parlor, as well as the Davis Dairy Plant, a state of the art dairy processing plant located on campus available to assist industry members.

Contract manufacturing of pilot scale ingredients, typically for use in research and development. The SDSU Davis Dairy Plant offers many processing and analytical services to third parties and researchers. The pilot plant has many equipment available, but also has space to bring in pilot research equipment specific to trials. Primary emphases are cheese and ice cream manufacturing on the manufacturing side, and membrane filtration, evaporation, and drying on the research side. Contact the SDSU Dairy Plant with any questions.