Economics
The Texas dairy industry boosts local, state and national economies.
Jobs and income are generated when farmers purchase machinery, trucks, fuel and other equipment; buy feed and healthcare for their animals; and use services such as banking and insurance. And after the milk leaves the farm, it continues to create jobs in transportation, distribution, processing and retail markets.
Dairy feeds the economy:
- 351 Grade A dairies with an estimated 586,395 cows produced more than 14.8 billion pounds of milk (more than 1.7 billion gallons) in 2020, up 7% from 2019.
- The average dairy herd has 1,487 cows (fifth nationally), and each cow produces an average of 2,861 gallons of milk per year, or about 7.84 gallons per day.
- Both Texas milk production and milk output per cow rank fifth nationally.
- The total economic impact of the Texas dairy industry in 2018 was estimated at almost $4.3 billion – milk is ranked fourth in Texas agriculture commodities for its economic impact.
- Dairy (milk and cows) brought in more than $2.4 billion in total cash receipts in 2019, with a $1.8 billion total contribution to Texas’ gross domestic product.
- Milk produced in Texas in 2018 had an estimated value of almost $2 billion, which is 7.86% of the total value of all Texas agriculture commodity production.
- 213,475 total jobs (direct and indirect) with $11.2 billion in wages were created by the Texas dairy industry in 2019.
- Texas dairy exports totaled $321 million in 2019.