Country View Dairy: Frozen Yogurt, Calves and a Peek Behind the Scenes
There are plenty of places to stop for frozen yogurt.
Country View Dairy is one of the few where you can make your own cone, pet a calf, watch cows being milked and look through a window into the creamery where the dairy products are made.
Located on a working farm near Hawkeye, Iowa, Country View Dairy has an on-site creamery and a self-service farm store. You do not need a formal tour to enjoy the experience. During a regular visit, you can see the youngest calves, check the milking parlor and watch activity inside the creamery.
Both times I visited, I spent about 20 to 30 minutes at the farm. It is a relatively quick stop, but there is quite a bit packed into that short visit.
Quick visitor information
Country View Dairy
15199 230th Street
Hawkeye, Iowa 52147
Farm store hours: Daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Admission: Free
Best for: Families, frozen yogurt, Iowa-made dairy products and agricultural experiences
Typical visit: 20 to 30 minutes
Payment: Cash or Venmo through an honor-system checkout
Restroom: Public restroom available
Accessibility: Step-free store entrance
Seating: No indoor or outdoor seating was available during my visits
Hours, prices and product availability can change, so check with Country View Dairy before making a special trip.
What to expect when you arrive
The first thing to understand is that Country View Dairy really is located on someone’s property.
You are not pulling into a retail plaza or traditional roadside attraction. You are arriving at an active dairy farm, complete with a farmhouse, farm buildings, employee vehicles and equipment.
The road to the farm is paved, while the driveway and parking lot are gravel. The parking area is large and has plenty of room.
A large Country View Dairy sign stands in the front yard. Continue around the house, and the creamery storefront will come into view.
At first, you may wonder whether you are supposed to be there. Keep going. Once you round the house, the visitor entrance is easy to recognize.
Visit the calves before entering
Before walking into the store, look for the small calf pens near the building.
Visitors can approach the pens, and the calves may come close enough to pet. It is an immediate draw for both children and adults.
Approach calmly, supervise young children and let the calf decide whether it wants to come closer.
For families, the combination is hard to beat: live calves followed by fresh soft-serve frozen yogurt.
How the self-service farm store works
Inside, the creamery store resembles a small country market, with refrigerated cases of milk, yogurt, frozen yogurt and other locally made products.
What you will not find is a checkout line.
A small white desk beside the creamery window serves as the honor-system payment station. Prices and instructions are clearly posted throughout the store.
At the payment table, visitors record:
- Their name
- What they purchased
- How much they paid
- Whether they paid with cash or Venmo
You then leave the cash or complete the Venmo payment.
The entire experience is self-guided, and the old-fashioned honor system is still alive and well.
During both of my visits, other couples and families stopped at the store. Some headed directly to the frozen yogurt machines, while others picked up milk and yogurt from the coolers.
Make your own soft-serve frozen yogurt
The soft-serve machines appeared to be the biggest draw during both of my visits.
Country View Dairy has four soft-serve flavors available each week. You can select one flavor or combine two neighboring choices into a twist.
You also make the cone yourself.
During my visit, a cone was $2. Cups and several toppings were available, and the toppings were included in the price. Flavors, toppings and prices may change.
I tried a twist of Euphoria Coffee and yellow cake batter.
I do not even drink coffee, but the combination was wonderful. The coffee flavor paired surprisingly well with the sweeter cake-batter yogurt.
There is no seating inside or outside the store, at least none that I saw. Plan to enjoy your frozen yogurt in the car or take it with you.
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Shop for dairy products and local foods
Frozen yogurt may bring many visitors through the door, but it is only part of what the store offers.
Country View Dairy produces several kinds of milk, yogurt, frozen yogurt, sour cream and heavy cream. The store also carries a changing selection of products from other local producers.
Depending on current inventory, you may find:
- Cheese
- Eggs
- Brats and meat sticks
- Granola
- Honey and syrup
- Chips and salsa
- Coffee and tea
- Candy
- Sauces
- Baked goods and treats
Bring a cooler when Country View Dairy is near the beginning of your road trip. It is easy to leave with more refrigerated products than you planned to buy.
Look inside the working creamery
One of the best surprises inside the store is the large viewing window overlooking the creamery.
Depending on the production schedule, visitors may see employees actively making or packaging dairy products. During my visit, workers wore coats, hairnets and gloves as they moved between stainless-steel machines and production areas.
I was not given special access inside the creamery. My photos were taken through the same window available to regular visitors.
Educational signs beside the window explain how milk moves from the cows and milking parlor into the creamery.
According to the signs, the cows are milked three times each day, with each cow spending about five minutes in the milking process. The milk travels from a bulk tank in the barn through a pipe to another tank inside the creamery.
A refurbished separator originally built in the 1950s spins the milk to separate the cream. The cream can then be used to make products such as sour cream, while the remaining milk continues through the yogurt-making process.
Even when workers are not actively producing something, the signs help turn the window into a small self-guided lesson.
Check the milking-parlor window
Across from the creamery store is the milking parlor.
A large public window allows visitors to look inside and watch cows being milked when the parlor is active.
There is no guarantee that milking will be underway when you arrive. During one of my visits, the parlor was active. During the other, it was not.
Check the window when you arrive, then check again before leaving. During a 20- to 30-minute visit, another section of the herd may rotate into the parlor.
The accompanying photo was taken after I received permission to stand inside the parlor so I could avoid shooting through the glass. Regular visitors normally watch through the public viewing window.
From the cows to the finished product
What makes Country View Dairy memorable is how closely everything is connected.
During one self-guided visit, you can potentially:
- Pet one of the youngest calves
- Watch cows being milked
- See workers inside the creamery
- Buy products made from the farm’s milk
- Make your own frozen yogurt cone
Country View Dairy is considered a farmstead creamery, meaning the milk used in its products comes from its own herd and is processed on the same farm.
The milk travels only a short distance from the milk house to the creamery. It is pasteurized but not homogenized, so cream may naturally rise to the top of the container. Shake the milk before pouring to mix the cream back in.
Is Country View Dairy good for young children?
Absolutely.
Live animals and fresh soft-serve frozen yogurt are a pretty effective combination.
Children can visit the calves, peek through the milking-parlor window and watch activity inside the creamery. The entire stop can be completed in less than half an hour, making it manageable for families who do not want a long guided experience.
Parents should remember that this is still an active farm. Keep children close around vehicles, gravel areas, equipment and animal pens.
The store entrance has no steps, and a public restroom is available.
How much time should you allow?
Both of my visits lasted approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
That was enough time to visit the calves, browse the store, make a frozen yogurt cone, look through the creamery window, read the educational signs and check the milking parlor.
You could make the stop quicker when you only want frozen yogurt or milk, but I would allow at least 20 minutes so you can explore without feeling rushed.
The story behind Country View Dairy
Dave and Carolee Rapson moved from Michigan to Hawkeye in 2002 to establish their dairy farm.
After several years, the family began looking for a way to make the business more sustainable. Carolee had already been making yogurt for the family, which helped inspire the idea of adding an on-site creamery.
Country View Dairy opened its state-certified creamery in 2011. Frozen yogurt followed in 2013, with cream-line milk and other dairy products added later.
Today, visitors can purchase the finished products only a short distance from the cows, milking parlor and creamery where the process begins.
Tips for visiting Country View Dairy
- Remember that you are entering a working farm.
- Follow the driveway around the house to reach the store.
- The driveway and parking lot are gravel, but parking is plentiful.
- Check the calf pens before entering.
- Look through the milking-parlor window when you arrive and again before leaving.
- Check current frozen yogurt flavors before your trip.
- Bring cash or be prepared to use Venmo.
- Record your purchases at the honor-system payment desk.
- Bring a cooler for refrigerated products.
- Plan to eat your frozen yogurt in the car.
- Allow about 20 to 30 minutes.
Is Country View Dairy worth the drive?
Country View Dairy is not a large attraction, and that is part of its appeal.
You can pull into a working Iowa farm, pet a calf, make your own frozen yogurt cone, watch cows being milked and look into the creamery—all without reserving a formal tour.
The two things that surprised me most were the extra experiences and the honor system.
I expected a farm store. I did not expect the calves, milking-parlor view and working creamery to add so much to a short visit.
And in a world where nearly every purchase involves a scanner, checkout line or touchscreen, it is refreshing to find a place where you write down what you bought, leave your payment and trust still plays a major role.
Add in an inexpensive make-your-own frozen yogurt cone, and Country View Dairy becomes an easy and memorable addition to a northeast Iowa road trip.
