In the years I have been at Madison I have always wanted to get a tour of the place and eat ice-cream. But coordinating a tour with 10 people is more difficult than it seems so I'm so glad when we finally get that going and we are all here! I joined one of their 'tours' cos a friend's parents were visiting and they really wanted to see how ice-cream is being made here. We were all really excited but the tour involved just standing by a glass panel overlooking the ice-cream and cheese making facilities and listening to someone read off a piece of paper about stuff.
The tours can be scheduled anytime within usual working hours but to watch their ice-cream/cheese production you have to go in the morning. We arranged a morning tour so the best part was watching them pack huge amounts of ice creams into gigantic tubs ready for sale.
The best part of the tour is that you get to eat ice-cream after the tour! I have always like cookies and cream and mint cookie. But my recent favorite is their pumpkin pie. It's lightly spiced and has graham cracker crust mixed in. I've heard it's a seasonal flavor, so a (big) part of me feels like getting a tonne of them to store in my freezer *wistful thought*
That said, you don't have to join/schedule a tour in order to eat ice cream. The dairy store is open 6 days a week so you can just walk in when you crave for some frozen treats. They also have pints and quarts in different flavors for you to take home. What I like is that getting those right at the dairy store saves you some money compared to getting them at other grocery stores in town.
Their ice-cream serving is huge and the pricing is awesome. You get 1-2 scoops for less than $2! They don't only have ice cream, coffee/tea and hot sandwiches are also served, for those looking for a meal beyond the ice creams =)