The University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ dairy pilot plant, which officially opened this past October, is up and running with new leadership and eager cheese heads. Eleven years ago there was talk to update the facility, but in 2018 operations ceased and with the COVID-19 pandemic all work to revamp the plant was paused.
The $9 million, 6,000 square-foot facility, is now operated by dairy pilot manager and longtime cheese-maker Rueben Nilsson. When the facility opened Nilsson shared sentiments with students of “Wow, it’s finally happening,” he said.
Nilsson and his team, consisting of UWRF Wuethrich Family/Grassland Dairy Center of Excellence project coordinator Brianna Crotteau and cheesemaker Sam Galgowski, recently had a successful cheddar production in the beginning of the month and are excited to make more.
Currently, they are focused on honing their cheese and ice cream production in their new home. In the future, the Falcons have big goals in mind. For Nilsson, he’d love to make specialized cheeses and expand to other dairy products like sour cream, cream cheese and yogurt.
A big part of this improved facility is sharing and selling the products for students and, down the line, the River Falls community to enjoy. In the near future, the campus dairy bar will sell cheese curds and ice cream soon, under the Falcon Creamery name.
Nilsson’s hopeful and bright, dairy-filled future is to sell their products at different campus events and to River Falls market places to expand their reach, he said. Nilsson wants to assure people that they are meeting their weekly production goals with the help of their two student employees. For Crotteau, she’s especially eager to share this facility with students in their courses, research and employment opportunities.
Students in the food science and agriculture programs especially will directly see how the campus’ sourced dairy produced at Mann Valley Farm is used to make edible products like cheese curds and ice cream.
With the facility, students can have hands-on experiences to improve their dairy processing skills. Further information on the facility can be found on the University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ website, uwrf.edu.