User:UserjuniorL1/UConn Dairy Bar

UConn Dairy Bar
The Uconn Dairy Bar, an ice cream shop on the campus of the University of Connecticut located in Storrs, Connecticut, is operated and run by the university’s Department of Animal science and dining services. Along with its basketball program, the Uconn Dairy Bar is an iconic symbol of the school and its history as an agricultural college. The university’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources creamery, aka The Creamery originally operated the shop. The Creamery, which is attached to the UConn Dairy Bar, can produce approximately 50,000 gallons of ice cream per year and makes up to 24 flavors Customers can enjoy the ice cream while watching it be made in a viewing area inside the shop. The Dairy Bar is open year-round and sells award-winning ice cream and cheeses.

History
The UConn Dairy Bar has been selling dairy products made by The Creamery, originally named “The Dairy Product Salesroom,” sometime in 1953. The Creamery is a part of University of Connecticut's College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources. The Creamery entirely produces the Dairy Bar’s products using fresh milk and eggs from UConn’s Kellogg Dairy Center (KDC). The KDC is home to the University of Connecticut’s Department of Animal Science’s milking cows, located in Horse Barn Hill, on the university’s campus, a short walk away from the Dairy Bar. Dairy Foods research, outreach, and teaching are all conducted in the Creamery. Dr. Dennis D'Amico, Assistant Professor of Dairy Foods, was recently hired to run the facility's research and teaching labs. The Creamery is located in the George C. White building which is attached to the UConn Dairy Bar. Since 1910, the Creamery was exclusively meant for teaching and research. The building was dedicated to George C. White, a Professor of Dairy Husbandry at UConn who served from 1914 to 1944. He taught Milk Production, Cattle Judging, Animal Nutrition, and Herd Improvement classes. Mr. White, also served as the president of the American Dairy Science Association in 1919.

In the 1950’s, the Dairy Product Salesroom, as part of the university’s Department of Animal Science Creamery, sold and supplied local prisons and schools with a variety of dairy products such as cottage cheese and fresh bottled milk. The Creamery was formally established in 1990. At this time, the Creamery employed more than 25 full-time employees. In the early 1990’s, the Dairy bar closed down its cheese and milk production operation due to costs of manufacturing, lack of employees, and the economy of dairy foods during this period of time. Dennis D’Amico, food microbiologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Animal Science, led an initiative to to relaunch the production of cheese at the Dairy Bar in 2014. Initially, the Creamery produced about 13,000 gallons of ice cream a year, and now that number has risen close to 60,000 . Bill Sciturro is currently the manager of dairy manufacturing at the Creamery. The UConn Dairy Bar has three full time employees, and about 12 part time student employees working in the retail Scoop Shop, located inside the Dairy Bar, which is managed by the universities’ dining services. The UCONN Dairy Bar has an observation window inside where people may view the ice cream in the making.

Ice Cream Products
The Creamery began selling ice cream products to the public from the shop in 1953.

Its’ products began selling in grocery stores in 2003 via partnership with Royal Ice Cream located in Manchester, CT. Royal is a 77-year-old family owned company and produces over 500,000 gallons of ice cream a year . As of 2003, stores such as Stop and Shop and IGA outlets sell UConn Dairy Bar ice cream. The Dairy Bar itself sells packaged, half-gallon tubs of about eight flavors of ice cream. There are 24 original flavors at a time, two to four seasonal flavors, and a couple limited edition flavors every so often. Other delights on the menu include milkshakes, ice cream floats, and ice cream cookie sandwiches. The shop also sells ready-to-go products such as award-winning cheeses (and aged cheeses), milk, eggs, and half gallons of ice cream. The ice cream shop has won numerous awards from best ice cream parlor in CT to best ice cream in CT (Cite). One of the most popular flavors is Husky Tracks, which consists of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge swirls, and giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup chunks. The name comes from the university's husky mascot. What makes the Dairy Bar ice cream so special is that it is made entirely by using only UConn’s milk which is produced by its milking cows located in the KDC. The Dairy Bar cheese products are also made using both the UConn Cows' milk and sheep's milk.

About the Cows
There are over 200 Holstein and Jersey Cows located on the farm, and UConn’s herd of cows is among the 'top 20' in the United States. The Holstein's are colored black and white and are the largest type of dairy cows, while Jersey's are brown and the smallest. Both dairy cows produce different types of milk and to create milk with a consistent flavor and nutritional content, milk from several types of cows is blended. The Kellogg Dairy Center is equipped with a Voluntary Milking Center (VMS) which allows the cows to walk over and decide when they feel the need to be milked. The system uses a robotic arm to milk each cow when ready. UConn's dairy cows produce about 90 gallons of milk each day. Besides the dairy cows, there are about 55 beef cattle, both Black Angus' and Herefords on UConn's farm ( . One famous Holstein calf is named Amy, which was recognized as the first farm animal to be cloned in the United States by UConn's Animal Science Professor, Jerry Yang in 1999.

VIP Sightings
On October 15th, 2021, President Joe Biden visited the well-known UConn Dairy Bar. He brought home additional ice cream, a special batch of chocolate chip flavored (the President’s favorite) which was confirmed by a White House official spokesperson. The President was at UConn for the dedication ceremony of the Dodd Center of Human Rights that Friday afternoon.

See Also; Additional University Dairy Bars
University of New Hampshire's Dairy Bar is a sustainable ice cream shop and uses all locally grown products. It was one of the only restaurants in the state of New Hampshire to be three star certified by Green Restaurant.

University of Vermont's Dairy Bar ice cream is produced entirely with UVM's milk, they also sell smoothies with all organic and locally grown fruit

South Dakota State University (SDSU) has their own Dairy Plant, Davis Dairy Plant. Attached, is the SDSU Dairy Bar and the products are manufactured by the university's students who follow a cow-to-cone ice cream process

Michigan State University has a Dairy Processing Plant on campus which produces cheeses and cultured dairy products including ice cream which is all sold at their very own, MSU Dairy Bar. The MSU Dairy Foods Complex houses the Processing Plant and Shop