KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsTexas Dairy Remaining Stable

Texas Dairy Remaining Stable

Ryan Cody

NewsChannel 10

Amarillo, TX - You may have noticed a decrease in what you pay for dairy products these days. Which probably sounds good to you at the grocery store. The money isn't quite being raked in by cheese plants like it would during normal economic times.

But experts say production has remained steady for dairy production here in Texas. 

Behind cattle and cotton, It's dairy that's Texas's largest source of agricultural receipts.

"In Texas we were going through a very rapid expansion. Producers have built facilities. And so they needed to stock those facilities," says Ellen Jordan a dairy specialist.

Case and point, Mark Ahlem of Hilmar cheese. His company expanded to Dalhart from California less than two years ago. "There's plenty of space up here. A lot of farm ground. Plenty of opportunity to grow. Cost of production is lower in Texas."

Dairy ventures like that have allowed a five percent milk production increase last year. Which is significant because California, Our nation's leading dairy producer. Did not increase production at all over the same time period.

Jordan says, "Our producers had built facilities and they needed to go on and stock those facilities or add cows to produce high quality product. And there was a decision that had to be made. If they left them empty they lost a lot more money and still had to pay for the facility."

"It's a long term business," says Ahlem. "You're looking way out in the future. Not just year to year. You build a dairy and in 20 - 30 years you're going to be there."

Continuing production for now. So that when the economy does turn around. We can still to be a leader in our nation's dairy production.