After witnessing all the steps taken to create one of Utah’s favorite ice cream brands, Cache Valley resident Savanna Mccay learned an important lesson.

“Cows,” Mccay said, “are the best things on earth.”

Earlier this month, Utah State University held its annual “Cow to Cone” event, where community members had the chance to peek into the entire process behind the delectable taste of Aggie Ice Cream, deemed by many (aside from the devotees of BYU Creamery) as Utah’s most mouth-watering campus confection.

The first step in creating the treat takes place at Utah State University’s various research farms in Cache Valley, where students grow alfalfa. This feed is then used to nourish the university’s dairy cows at the Caine Dairy Teaching and Research Center.

The Caine Dairy is home to 60 Jersey cows and 60 Holstein cows that each contribute milk that will eventually be made into Aggie Ice Cream. Each of the Jersey cows can produce seven to nine gallons of milk a day — all with high butterfat content, making it great for ice cream and cheese. The dairy’s Holstein cows, meanwhile, can produce nine to 20 gallons a day.

How robots contribute to sweet treats

About six years ago, the dairy started using robotic milking machines. These robots offer numerous benefits, according to USU Extension dairy specialist Bruce Richards.

For one, they operate around the clock, improving udder health and increasing milk production by allowing cows to be milked up to five times a day. But the biggest benefit of the machines, Richards said, is labor.

“Generally, they don’t need a day off, they don’t get sick, they don’t get into a fight with their girlfriend, they don’t get mad at the cows,” Richards said. “They’re really pretty dependable.”

The farm used to not have two different breeds of cows, according to Abby Benninghoff, head of the university’s Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Department, but having both is beneficial for research purposes and for comparing the two breeds.

The Jerseys provide better teaching opportunities for students, she said, because they are smaller, friendlier and easier to interact with.

Benninghoff said the dairy will soon be looking into how different components of the feed they give the cows contribute to higher milk yields.

“In the dairy world, milk yield, milk quality is very important,” she said. “So, if you can have more effective use of the feed, you’ll end up with a more economically sustained dairy operation.”

It’s all in the milk

Rachel Lindstrom, a USU graduate student studying cheddar cheese, said having the dairy near the university is beneficial to her, even when she is not the one interacting with the cows.

“The cow — what it’s fed, how it’s treated — all those things trickle down into the milk and the flavor of the milk,” Lindstrom said. “The quality of the cow will equal the quality of the final product.”

The quality of the Caine Dairy’s cows, she said, shows in Aggie Ice Cream. The cows at the Caine Dairy Teaching and Research Center were ranked the top college dairy herd in the nation by the Holstein Association USA in six of the past seven years.

One of Lindstrom’s professors, Prateek Sharma, said this is what makes Aggie Ice Cream unique.

“Having that superior-quality milk will help us to make superior-quality dairy products,” he said. “So it’s important for us to have a dairy farm close by.”

After the milk is taken from the famous cows, some of it is transported to the Gary H. Richardson Dairy Products Laboratory next to the Aggie Creamery. There, the milk is tested for quality and safety, pasteurized, homogenized and mixed with other ingredients to create more than 27 flavors.

The milk is also used to make cheeses in food science courses for students and short courses for industry professionals.

But what really makes Aggie Ice Cream — depending on the Utahn — the best? Microbiologist and assistant professor Taylor Oberg said the trick is in the ice cream’s air and fat content. He said his students whip less air into their ice cream than usual and put about 12% fat into the mix, making it denser and creamier.

“It’s better than BYU,” Oberg said. “I’ll just say that.”