Holy grilled cheese sandwich, Batman! Not many dairies in Michigan have a full restaurant, but Country Dairy does.

This place combines the farm, restaurant-style food, and gift store with farm tours, a playground, and even bike rentals.

(Be sure to get the bottomless chocolate milk with your meal – that alone is worth the stop.)

Even more: They’re one of just a few large-scale dairy farms open to the public. Their herd produces 70,000 gallons/week, if you can imagine!

One-time events are posted on their Facebook page. Full walking farm tours run Memorial Day to Labor Day. Fall color wagon rides go October into early November, and winter sleigh rides run December through February (weather permitting).

Store is open year-round Monday–Saturday. It’s located in a prime vacation area, so it makes sense that summer weekends get busy.

True farm-to-cone setup – the ice cream is made from milk produced by 200+ cows you can literally see on site.

The self-guided Robot Barn Tour lets you walk the barns and watch robotic milking at your own pace.

Expect the longest lines on summer weekends and afternoons – weekday mornings are noticeably calmer if you want time to wander the barns.

Their free petting farm opens in the spring and remains open into fall.

The store is small and tucked into a quiet rural area where a German cheesemaker handcrafts over 20 varieties of cheese without the help of machines.

The milk comes exclusively from local cows that are naturally raised and antibiotic free.

If you show up on a weekday morning, you can see the cheese being made right there while you shop.

Open year-round, Mon – Sat. There’s no real peak season here, which is kind of nice.

Fresh curds and baked goods are the standout, and both are especially good when eaten the same day.

Keep an eye out for the Christmas Cheddar, which is a limited seasonal run.

This diner-style restaurant and ice cream stand is Michigan’s largest producer of ice cream, pumping out over 25 million gallons a year.

Oh, and they were also among the first to serve Blue Moon, plus they once held the Guinness World Record for the longest ice cream dessert.

Open year-round. Summer in Ludington gets busy – beach season means real lines so plan ahead.

This is a creamery where they turn goat milk and Jersey cow milk into a variety of delicious cheeses right on site.

It’s a small, personal operation with a tasting room feel.

Goat cheeses come and go with the milking cycle, and you’ll see things like holiday chocolate chèvre truffles or seasonal flavors pop up throughout the year.

Fresh, u-pick organic apples show up in fall. Occasionally, they’ll host events like “Hike with the Herd.”

It’s an easy stop to pair with nearby Saugatuck/South Haven wineries, beaches, and orchards for a full day out.

Visitors come for the animals, the barn, and the farm store with merch and all sorts of meats and cheeses.

This is a women-owned operation on a real working farm with hundreds of cattle and cheese made right on site from that morning’s milk.

The green barns are a standout, worth a photo on their own.

Thanksgiving turkeys are a seasonal highlight. Fall brings pumpkins and seasonal pies.

Spring and summer hours may extend a bit.

Homemade baked goods like Dutch apple bread and cinnamon rolls show up periodically.

Check their Facebook page for what’s available that week. Plan about 20–30 minutes for a visit.

Fifth-generation farm with roots going back to the 1800s, still family-run today.

They use a voluntary robotic milking system that only a small percentage of dairies have, and the barns are designed around cow comfort.

You can even try hand-milking a cow, which is not something you get to do at most stops.

Open Tue–Sun year-round. Occasionally closed for local events like the Berrien County Youth Fair in mid-August where they’re manning their food truck.

It pairs well with a day trip to the Lake Michigan shoreline.

The ice cream and cheese are made by actual MSU students and faculty in the plant next door – a working educational dairy facility that’s been running since 1913.

The observation deck lets you watch it happen. About seven students work in ice cream production and another 30 or so manage the store, serve customers, and operate machinery.

They’re all Food Science students getting hands-on training while making Spartan-themed flavors you won’t find anywhere else.

Open year-round Tue–Sun. Hours follow the academic calendar: 12–9 PM in spring/summer, 12–8 PM in fall/winter.

Cheese is first-come, first-served when it is being produced – but that is sporadic.

Skip game days if you want a shorter line.

Traditional European cheesemaking – hand-ladled curds, long sets, local small-farm milk.

Rotating seasonal gelato flavors (Paw Paw in October, Peppermint Bark in winter) that you won’t find elsewhere.

They host beer and wine pairing events and were part of the Zingerman’s family before going independent.

Open year-round. Seasonal gelato flavors worth timing your visit around: Eggnog and Peppermint Bark November–January, Harvest Pumpkin in fall, Paw Paw in mid-October.

Pairing events are on the website calendar.

This is the only working dairy farm in Oakland County running a full production chain.

They grow their own feed, do the milking, bottling, and even make their own award-winning ice cream all on site.

Open year-round. Fall is a big deal here – pumpkin patch and hayrides run through October, and holiday events (Santa visits, eggnog) pick up in December. Summer weekends get busy; fall weekends during pumpkin season even more so.

This is one of the few places in Michigan where you can buy dairy made by an Amish co-op.

The combination of a working creamery, made-to-order deli, and in-house bakery under one roof is a great combo.

Cash and checks only.

Open Mon–Sat year-round, closed Sundays.

Mio is on the east side of northern Michigan – a good anchor stop if you’re exploring the Au Sable River area.

On-site cheese cave aging goat cheeses including a ‘mystery cheese.’ The Baby Goat Experience – petting and snuggling baby goats – is genuinely a highlight.

Hands-on cheese-making and soap-making (fee) classes let you take home what you make, which is a pretty fun way to spend an afternoon.

They’re expanding into cow milk cheeses, so watch for that.

Open April – December as a full farm destination. Baby goats are seasonal – the nursery opens when babies are available, usually spring.

Cheese and soap classes run in spring (April/May). Splish Splash event in July, Fun Festival the 3rd weekend of August, and Meet Santa with goats in December. CSA runs through the summer growing season.

This famous Up North stop is a true farm-to-cone setup where you can see the cows out in the pasture while you’re eating. The ice cream is made using milk from the dairy farm right next door and it feels like a small farm stand.

As for the menu: they rotate 20 unique flavors out of a lineup of 150+ homemade options, and so popular that you’ll find Moomers in stores all over Michigan.

Summer is peak season, and definitely the time to visit if you want to sit outdoors and watch the cows graze.

Even though it’s kinda in the middle of nowhere, expect long lines on evenings and weekends, especially in July and August.
Earlier in the day or shoulder seasons (late spring, early fall) are usually more relaxed.

We’re talking serious cheese here, guys. Their Dutch-style Gouda is aged up to four years from their grass-fed Jersey cow milk.

They also offer Cow Cuddle sessions, keep rare heritage Mulefoot pigs, make a goat milk cheese line alongside the cow milk varieties, and took home the 2026 Cheese Madness title.

Hours change by season. Seasonal ice cream flavors rotate throughout the year.

If you time it right on a Tuesday, you can watch curds being hooped through the viewing window, which is a fun little behind-the-scenes moment.

They’ve been making cave-aged, European-style cheeses from Michigan milk since 1995, including a raclette that took Best of Show at the American Cheese Society.

Shop open Mon–Sat year-round. If you want to see cheesemaking in action, come on a Tuesday. Hours may shift with the season – confirm before you head over.

They hold classes, workshops, tours, and activities occasionally, like Michigan Cheese Fest.

Their beautiful farmland overlooks Lake Michigan, with Alpine goats grazing in the pastures right there.

Their cheese has picked up international awards, and when tours aren’t running, you can still grab it from a cheese vending machine in Northport, which is a pretty wild way to buy cheese.

This is a regenerative farm.

Farm tours run in summer, typically July–August. No walk-in access outside of scheduled tour dates. The Northport vending machine has cheese year-round.

This is an educational place to visit.

Stop at this working dairy farm to see and learn how it operates. *They don’t sell milk or ice cream direct to the public.

The Frankenmuth Corn Maze in fall is a fun bonus.

Pretzel rolling classes are offered on occasion.

Frankenmuth Corn Maze runs weekends late September through early November – fall is peak season here.

Tours are available year-round but only by appointment.

This is the only creamery stop on our Michigan dairy road trip that’s in the Upper Peninsula.

Visit to find full on-farm milking and processing. Everything they sell – meat and dairy alike – is raised without antibiotics or hormones.

Check Facebook to see if they’re open before making the drive – their hours are weather-dependent, particularly in late winter and early spring.