The rosy potential for dairy industry growth that first attracted California-based Hilmar Cheese Co. to Texas nearly a decade ago is already becoming reality. As and it does, the company's state-of-the-art processing plant in Dalhart (pictured above) is keeping pace.
The second major expansion at the sprawling facility since it opened for business in 2007 is currently underway and is scheduled for completion later this year. The plant currently processes over 8 million pounds of milk per day. Equipment additions and upgrades are being made to increase production and packaging of its American-style cheese.
Hilmar's decision in 2005 to build a new plant in Texas, rather than in California, said much about not only the prospects the company envisioned for milk producers in both states, but the time, cost and hassle of dealing with their governmental bureaucracies as well. Nine years later, Hilmar looks darn near brilliant.
Between 2007 and 2012, total cow numbers fell by 31,000 head in California, while they rose by 87,000 head in Texas. During that same period, total milk production rose by 1.12 billion pounds in California, while it rose by 2.21 billion pounds in Texas.
