Dakota Farmer

SDSU dairy facility to close doors

Lack of funding cited for the closure; students to work at local dairies.

Sarah McNaughton, Editor, Dakota Farmer

January 29, 2024

1 Min Read
cows in a pen
ENDING LEGACY: The South Dakota dairy barn was built in the 1960s and supplied the milk to make ice cream at the university’s Dairy Bar.Sarah McNaughton

The dairy barn at South Dakota State University is set to close by the end of June, according to SDSU President Barry Dunn. A lack of funding is cited as the main reason for the closure, even with funding committed by the 2021 Legislature for a new facility.

“The Legislature provided us with $7.5 million of state money, given the condition that we raise another $7.5 million toward a new dairy facility,” Dunn says. “But new facilities cost many times that.”

The facility was first constructed in the 1960s, with the latest addition built in the 1990s.

Dairy students will now work at local dairy farms. “A lot of our students were already doing this, choosing to work in those types of facilities rather than ours, as it was just not very modern,” Dunn says.

Degree programs in dairy production, dairy manufacturing and food science will continue for students.

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About the Author(s)

Sarah McNaughton

Editor, Dakota Farmer, Farm Progress

Sarah McNaughton of Bismarck, N.D., has been editor of Dakota Farmer since 2021. Before working at Farm Progress, she was an NDSU 4-H Extension agent in Cass County, N.D. Prior to that, she was a farm and ranch reporter at KFGO Radio in Fargo.

McNaughton is a graduate of North Dakota State University, with a bachelor’s degree in ag communications and a master’s in Extension education and youth development.

She is involved in agriculture in both her professional and personal life, as a member of North Dakota Agri-Women, Agriculture Communicators Network Sigma Alpha Professional Agriculture Sorority Alumni and Professional Women in Agri-business. As a life-long 4-H’er, she is a regular volunteer for North Dakota 4-H programs and events.

In her free time, she is an avid backpacker and hiker, and can be found most summer weekends at rodeos around the Midwest.

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