CLOVIS, N.M.—Southwest Cheese Co. received its first delivery of milk in October and has begun test production on one of the lines of its enormous new plant.

As construction continues, the company, a joint venture between Dairy Farmers of America, Glanbia Foods and Select Milk Cooperative will continue trial production runs with the hopes of being up to 30% capacity by year’s end, the company’s top executive told the local newspaper, The Clovis News Journal.

“We will gradually start to commission different parts of the plant,” Director Maurice Keane told the paper after the first trial. “Today went well. It’s another positive step along the way to getting the plant up and running.”

For Southwest 30% of capacity will be nothing to sneeze at. The state-of-the-art facility could eventually produce 44,000 lbs of cheese and 275,000 lbs of whey per hour.

Also last month, a delegation of three Midwestern congressmen who serve on ag committees got a look at the facility as part of a tour arranged by IDFA.