By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Editor
Dairy herds in Texas are expanding, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The average number of milk cows in Texas from April to June totaled 513,000 head.
That’s up 43,000 head from this time last year, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
Milk production is also on the rise.
Texas dairies produced 14 percent more milk than this time last year and four percent more milk than the first quarter of 2017.
Milk production between April and June totaled 3,106 million pounds.
The milk industry in Oklahoma is also slowly expanding.
Milk production from April to June in Oklahoma totaled 187 million pounds. That’s down one percent from the first part of the year. It’s up one percent from this time last year.
The average number of milk cows in Oklahoma this quarter totaled 39,000 head, up 1,000 from the same quarter in 2016.
Similar trends can be seen nationally.
Milk production in the United States was 55.3 billion pounds this quarter. That’s up 1.8 percent over this time last year.
American dairies added more than 29,000 cows over the quarter. There were about 9.4 million head of cattle in the U.S. from April through June. That’s an increase of 76,000 head over this time last year.
USDA NASS’ second quarter Milk Production report is compiled using data provided by dairy farmers from across Texas and the U.S.
Results from the next quarterly survey will be published Oct. 20.
Texas is the sixth largest dairy-producing state, according to the Texas Association of Dairymen. The state has about 395 Grade A dairies.
In 2016, those dairies produced more than 10.7 billion pounds of milk, which is about 1.25 billion gallons.
The dairy industry in Texas contributes more than $3 billion to the state economy each year, making milk the third largest agricultural commodity in terms of economic impact.
Additional information on Texas dairies and milk production can be found at milk4Texas.org.