The artisan dairy is an agribusiness class that is growing quickly. This is a type of farm that if done correctly can support a family financially on 10 or fewer acres. The most challenging part of starting an artisan dairy (beyond the learning curve) is the cost of dairy and creamery equipment. Most dairy equipment is designed for large commercial dairies and is impractical for the small producer. What equipment is the right size and available is prohibitively expensive for most people.

Equipment needed for an artisan dairy/creamery.

• An efficiently designed and contructed building that meets Pastuerized Milk Ordinance (PMO) standards for the milking parlor and creamery.
• A pipeline or bucket milking system (depending on dairy needs) with a clean in place system meeting PMO standards.
• A bulk tank (refrigerated tank)
• Various stainless steel dairy sinks, cheese draining tables, cheese processing tables, and aging racks.
• Pumps to move milk between dairy systems.
• Batch pasteurizer or pasteurizer/cheese vat
• Cheese vat
• Automatic bottler for milk, yogurt, and other products.
• Cheese press  
• Icecream maker
• Cream separator
• Aging room for hard cheeses.

I am very familiar with necessary equipment and dairy production. I am not a machinist, welder, or other metal worker. I can provide knowledge of the industry if there are others who can provide the technical capabilities. All the equipment listed above may be used with multiple species of dairy animals with only minor inexpensive design changes. The milk processing equipment is the same regardless of species. We need to develop open-source designs in various sizes so that operations producing different quantities of product may use the designs.