Community Highlights: Meet Carl Chaney of Chaney’s Dairy Barn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carl Chaney.

Hi Carl, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Our family settled the farm that we live on today in 1888. In 1940, my dad started milking two Jersey cows by hand. In 1962, he built a dairy barn that we milked in for 54 years. In 2003, we opened Chaney’s Dairy Barn, a restaurant/ice cream shop here on our farm where we produce our homemade ice cream. In 2008, we expanded our restaurant/ice cream store, increasing the kitchen and the dining areas. In 2016, we put in a Lely Robot that milks our cows 24 hours a day. In 2019, our daughter Elizabeth started up the processing side of our business (J.R. Chaney Bottling Company). This allows to process all of our milk from our Jersey cows into fluid mix and ice cream mix. The ice cream mix is used at the Dairy Barn to make our premium, homemade ice cream and our milk is distributed through Creation Gardens, Kroger, Houchens/IGA stores and other small retailers. Last year, we made over 30,000 gallons of ice cream made with milk from our cows. Our milk and ice cream have received gold and silver medals from the Los Angeles International Dairy Competition. In 2024, we expanded our restaurant/ice cream store again as our business has increased. The expansion includes a new ice cream serving area, additional dining and a theater style ice cream kitchen which is one of a kind in the state of Kentucky. In addition to food and ice cream, we also offer a free playground to our customers, educational farm tours for groups and self-guided tours for individuals and families, trailer events throughout the area and numerous wholesale accounts that sell our ice cream.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Continually outgrowing our space and staying adequately staffed; we’ve had to add management staff to help with all aspects of daily operations

We’ve been impressed with Chaney’s Dairy Barn, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We specialize in offering a family friendly agritourism destination where all ages come to make memories. We are known for our ice cream which is considered one of the best ice creams in the state of Kentucky. We have been fortunate to have been featured on several television programs and media such as Guy Fieri’s All American Road Trip, Park’d with Abby Hornacek, Justified television show and recently Global Child network.

What sets us apart is you can actually watch the process of the cows being milked, that milk turned into ice cram mix and that ice cream mix being turned into our signature almost 16% butterfat ice cream. Families are able to drive or walk down to the farm, watch the cows be milked, a couple of days a week they can watch the milk be processed through a window and up at the restaurant/ice cream store they can watch the mix become ice cream.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
We have been fortunate to have helped numerous young people get their start in the ice cream business by shadowing our processes and taking what they’ve learned to build businesses of their own.

Pricing:

• $4 self guided tour (subject to change)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chaneysdairybarn.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/chaneysdairybarn
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/chaneysdairybarn
• Twitter: https://x.com/chaneysdairy
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/chaneysdairybarn