Tucked into a residential neighborhood in the small village of Theresa, Wis., Widmer’s Cheese Cellars’ combined headquarters and cheesemaking facility bears little resemblance to an industrial operation from the outside. In fact, the building looks much like an oversized version of the quaint old homes surrounding it. But looks can be deceiving. Inside, skilled cheesemakers produce about 2,000 pounds a day of cheese in a 19,000-square-foot processing facility — combining old-world techniques with modern technology.

This photo gallery contains additional, unpublished photos of dairy processing facilities featured in Dairy Foods magazine. To view more Behind the Scenes galleries go to our archives page!

Rutter’s Dairy, which produces fluid milk along with some juice and tea products at its York, Pa.-based plant. Not only does the company work with local farmers to ensure the quality of its milk source, but it also controls the product after it leaves its facility by operating its own truck fleet.

This photo gallery contains additional, unpublished photos of dairy processing facilities featured in Dairy Foods magazine. To view more Behind the Scenes galleries go to our archives page!

The first thing most visitors see as they draw near to the fresh cheese plant operated by Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese LLC is a colorful, hand-painted 52-square-foot mural depicting the unique farm-to-consumer journey of the family-run company’s products.

This photo gallery contains additional, unpublished photos of dairy processing facilities featured in Dairy Foods magazine. To view more Behind the Scenes galleries go to our archives page!

The 175,000-square-foot facility boasts 103 employees, most of whom are dedicated to production, warehouse and shipping, or engineering and maintenance. Production takes place six days a week across two eight-hour processing shifts; a third shift is dedicated to cleanup and HTST processing. Packaging formats include caseless and conventional gallons, quarts and totes, Aarons says.

This photo gallery contains additional, unpublished photos of dairy processing facilities featured in Dairy Foods magazine. To view more Behind the Scenes galleries go to our archives page!

Casper’s Ice Cream’s newest plant is a frozen novelty powerhouse. The state-of-the-art processing facility produces 350 million ice cream and frozen novelty products annually.

This photo gallery contains additional, unpublished photos of dairy processing facilities featured in Dairy Foods magazine. To view more Behind the Scenes galleries go to our archives page!

The cooperative has operated a plant in Ellsworth since 1910, but the facility’s cheesemaking operations began in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Ellsworth began expanding its cheese curd production beyond just local sales. The company now manufactures 180 SKUs in Ellsworth. (It also operates plants in Comstock, Wis., and New London, Wis.).

This photo gallery contains additional, unpublished photos of dairy processing facilities featured in Dairy Foods magazine. To view more Behind the Scenes galleries go to our archives page!