Milk, Chocolate Milk Produced at MTSU Dairy Farm Available at Various Area Locations

Middle Tennessee State University is home to one of the largest dairy production operations in the Middle Tennessee area.

The MTSU Creamery provides all the milk found on the school’s campus as well as milk for several distributors in Murfreesboro.

Local food establishments like Brass Horn Coffee Shop and Hattie Jane’s Creamery, as well as area grocery stores like JR’s Foodland offer milk produced by the MTSU Creamery. It is also sold at the Murfreesboro Saturday Market held on the Murfreesboro Public Square every Saturday morning, May through October.

“They sell pints, half gallons and gallons of milk,” said Jessica Carter, director of the MTSU School of Agriculture.

Assistant Farm Director Dalton Hughes says the MTSU Creamery—located on Guy James Road a few miles east of the main university campus—produces roughly 4,000 pounds of milk on a day-to-day basis.

MTSU’s milk is widely recognized by the campus community for its quality and taste—so much so that it has won numerous accolades, including a blue ribbon from the Tennessee Dairy Processors and a long standing “best in show” streak for their chocolate milk.

The MTSU Dairy Farm, where all of the milk is produced, offers students at MTSU a chance to gain valuable experience helping with the entire process of milk production.

“We have classes that come out here, sometimes on more than a once-a-day basis,” Carter said.

Carter speaks highly of the students who work on the farm, praising the work ethic she sees from them.

“Not everybody is willing to get up and milk cows at five in the morning,” Carter said.

Having to manage the commercial aspect of milk production and the importance of educating students comes with its challenges, but it’s worth it for Carter and the rest of the faculty at the creamery.

“It’s a lot more than just the farming aspect and managing the cows; we’re a public institution,” said Carter. “They help oversee animal use for classes because we feel like it’s important for the students to get hands-on learning.”