Return to January 2023 Dairy Dispatch
By Darren Turley Executive Director, Texas Association of Dairymen
Happy New Year to Texas dairy farmers, and welcome to Austin to all the state lawmakers who have returned for the 88th Texas Legislature.
At this start of a new year, I’d like to reflect on the state of the Texas dairy industry and share my thoughts about what I see ahead in 2023. Thankfully, milk production is strong in Texas, and we continue to be the fourth largest milk producing state in the nation with our sights firmly on taking the number three spot.
But we are – and should continue – to face a few challenges. Our overriding issue is a lack of water in this ongoing drought. We desperately need moisture. Feed stocks are at a very low level and producers need to replenish their forage supplies this year. Texas farmers have had to import forage from several states, and the market cannot continue to sustain that in 2023. In addition, the cost of planting crops is more expensive.
These increased forage costs along with elevated prices of feed and fertilizer will make 2023 very expensive if we do not see some rainfall this year.
Texas farmers also continue to struggle to hire on the farm. Texas producers continue to make management changes to conserve labor, and we continue to see producers building robotic facilities instead of remodeling older parlors. I expect an expansion of these robotic dairies as market conditions and production control programs expire.
Anaerobic digestors are coming online, and others are under construction. This technology, which will convert manure into methane gas, will be watched by the industry, and the market will continue to work with other farms adopting this technology.
All news is not bad. As I mentioned, milk production continues to increase. That growth means a portion of milk produced in Texas is exported to other milk markets, predominantly the country’s southeast region. We are monitoring Federal Milk Market Order reform policy discussions to assess its impact on Texas producers and their ability to take advantage of other markets across the country.
Some of that excess milk could soon go to new processors in Texas. The new Cacique cheese plant in Amarillo is set to come online in fall 2023, and the Leprino cheese plant is expected to start operating in Lubbock in late 2024.
Increased sales of milk from the farm to these new plants will make it hard to maintain the current production control program that now is implemented on most of the milk produced in Texas. That program will continue through 2023 before it comes up for renewal.
As I referenced earlier, the Texas Legislature has convened in Austin and will be in session through Memorial Day. The Texas Association of Dairymen (TAD) will spend much of the first part of 2023 monitoring proposed legislation to determine its impact on the Texas dairy industry.
On all the issues outlined above, TAD’s number one priority remains promoting and protecting the health of our state’s dairy industry and the hardworking men and women dedicated to feeding Texans.