By Darren Turley
TAD Executive Director
The Texas dairy industry has a persistent and growing need for labor because today’s large, modern dairies are labor-intensive businesses that operate every day of the year to bring milk to our growing state and beyond. Texas dairy families say that filling these jobs has always been a challenge, but is becoming even more so, especially in rural areas where the labor market is tight and it’s difficult to recruit for long-term farm work.
Labor isn’t just needed to keep the cows milked. It includes feeding, animal care, cleaning, maintenance, manure handling, calf care, planting and harvesting forages, and operating increasingly complex equipment. As Texas dairy farms have expanded and adopted more technology, they still require a reliable workforce to manage daily operations. While technology, including a growing number of robotic dairies, may help reduce some labor pressure, there always will be a need for human workers.
The labor shortage is closely tied to immigration and workforce policy. Industry voices have noted that many dairy operations depend on immigrant workers, and that the available domestic labor pool is not meeting demand for these physically demanding jobs. More broadly, agricultural labor shortages are a national issue. The H-2A guest-worker program continues to grow as farmers report difficulty finding U.S. workers willing to take these positions. But this program only addresses seasonal agriculture workers. On the dairy, where cows must be milked multiple times a day, every day, the need is for more than a temporary workforce
The stakes are high because Texas is a major dairy state. USDA data show Texas produced 18 billion pounds of milk in 2025 from about 705,000 cows. The Texas Comptroller has also noted that the industry contributes tens of billions of dollars to the state economy and supports more than 250,000 direct and indirect jobs.
When labor is short, Texas dairy farms cannot run at full capacity, which can slow growth, raise costs and limit expansion.
In practical terms, Texas dairy’s need for labor is a structural issue, not a short-term inconvenience. Unless labor supply improves through policy changes, better recruitment, automation or all of the above, Texas dairies will continue facing pressure to protect productivity and profitability.
And that isn’t good for Texas, or Texans who love their milk and dairy products.
