Best Dairy Farms in the US050

Need to com-MOO-ne with nature? Meet a few cows and learn where milk and ice cream come from? We've got a great national list, and we'd love to hear about your favorites, too!

Arizona
Superstition Farm, in Mesa, offers guests the opportunity to see a real dairy farm in action, touch and feed the animals, listen to cow tales, and taste milk from the milk bar (12 flavors are available).

California
Hidden Villa is home to the Heifer International Learning Center (opening in 2009), and also provides plenty of opportunities to consort with dairy cows and sheep in its Tin Barn.

Georgia
Visitors at Cagle's Dairy, in Canton, can watch baby calves being bottle fed, get a first-hand look at how a live cow is milked, and tour the Processing Facility. Tour perks include a free 1/2 pint of plain or chocolate milk.

Illinois
Wagner Farm, in Glenview, is an 18.6-acre living history farm where families can see how bread was made in a wood cook stove and milk one of the farm's many cows.

Michigan
Calder Brothers Dairy is open to the public seven days a week, and kids can see the cows milked at 4pm each day. The Carleton-area enterprise also boasts an ice cream parlor - with more than 30 farm-made, fresh flavors - and a dairy store.

Ohio
Perhaps most famous for its homemade ice cream, Yellow Springs' Young's Jersey Dairy Farm has expanded its operations over the years to include a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, miniature golf, corny maze, batting cages, a "Moovers and Shakers" train ride, and a full "cowlendar" of family friendly events.

Oklahoma
Families throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas are familiar with Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Stores and by visiting the company's Braum Family Farm in Tuttle, ice cream lovers can tour one of the largest dairy operations in the world where more than 10,0000 cows are milked several times a day. Tours are by reservation only.

Pennsylvania
At Merrymead Farm in Lansdale, the cows get a daily milking from 3:30pm-6pm (clearly not early risers!) Drop by the dairy store for a selection of over 30 flavors of hand-dipped ice cream and - of course - the farm's award-winning milk.

Chester Springs is home to the Milky Way Farm, which offers private tours (by appointment) to groups and families. Guests can watch the cows being milked and assist with collecting eggs and feeding cows, calves, goats, and sheep!

Rhode Island
Cows are milked twice a day at Wright's Dairy Farm in Smithfield, but most people only make the 2:30pm event (not the 4am)! Fresh ice cream, milk, and whipped cream desserts are available from the farm and on-premises bakery.

South Carolina
Visitors at Split Creek Farm, in Anderson, learn about different breeds of dairy goats, meet the farm's guardian dogs and herding dogs, tour the milking parlor, and end the tour with a sampling of the cheeses, fudge and milk produced at the farm.

Utah
Among the many farm-fresh activities at Farm Country in Lehi, the daily 6pm milking hour gives visitors a chance to see where milk comes from and learn about the process that makes it safe for us to drink. Guests can even try their hand at milking a cow the old fashioned way.

Virgina
The Leonard Family operates Cows-N-Corn at their working dairy farm in Midland. Families can visit the animals, learn about modern farming techniques - with an emphasis on how to take care of 300 dairy cows - and slurp down hand-dipped ice cream.

By the way...
Camels, not cows, are milked at Oasis Camel Dairy in Ramona, California - believe it or not! The milk is used in soap and other cosmetic products.