Texas Tech's Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources celebrated National Milk Day and the state's growing and economically critical dairy industry with a special recognition program today (Jan. 11) at the university's Dairy Barn. 

“I'm so excited to have this event, welcoming our students back for the spring semester, and promoting our region's dairy industry,” said Davis College's Associate Dean for Outreach & Engagement Erica Irlbeck. 

Among the activities were Dairy Max's Oculus headsets for a virtual farm experience, along with milk and donuts donated by Grandy's Dairy. Students from Davis College's Ag Ambassadors and the Dairy Science Club assisted in the program.

Jan. 11 commemorates the first U.S. milk delivery to homes in sterilized glass bottles, according to a USDA National Institute of Food & Agriculture press announcement. This marked a turning point, elevating the accessibility of milk, an important source of nutrition, reports the Dairy Council of California website, adding that milk deliveries to homes made it safer and easier for families to drink milk, which provides many health benefits.

“The dairy industry is a growing and critical industry for the region and state,” said Darren Hudson, Davis College Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives & Assessment, and the Larry Combest Endowed Chair for Agricultural Competitiveness. “With several billion dollars in sales annually and a significant provider of jobs, understanding the role of the dairy as an economic driver for the region and state as well as a provider of human health is critical.”

“Davis College has a growing research footprint in dairy with both production issues with Dr. Michael Ballou and the Department of Veterinary Sciences, as well as food product development and safety through the Department of Animal & Food Sciences,” he said. “Given the growth of the dairy industry, it is a strategic priority of Davis College to contribute research and outreach in dairy.”

Today, Texas ranks fifth nationally in dairy production and in its number of dairy cows, and the industry is growing rapidly, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts website. In 1975, Texas had 2,890 producers churning out about 3 billion pounds of milk. Today, Texas has just 351 dairies but produced more than 14.8 billion pounds of milk in 2020.

Nationwide, the USDA Economic Research Service reports that in 2020 more than 9 million dairy cows produced 223.2 billion pounds of milk in the United States. According to the FarmProgess website, there are approximately 49,000 dairy farms and nearly 500 milk processing plants in the U.S., with dairy farms in all 50 States and in Puerto Rico. Some 97% of U.S. dairy farms are family-owned farm businesses.

CONTACT: Clint Krehbiel, Dean, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or Clint.Krehbiel@ttu.edu

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