“Don’t mess with Texas,” could be the mantra for the 2024 dairy statistics, as Texas has firmly taken a foothold as a powerhouse dairy state.

Texas has been making headway over the last several years to move up the national dairy statistic rankings, and 2024 was the year it overtook Idaho for number three in total pounds of annual milk production.

At the beginning of 2015, Texas was down on the national production list at sixth place. In those days, Texas stood behind California, Wisconsin, New York, Idaho, and Pennsylvania. Just short of a decade later, Texas edged out Idaho to take third place behind the perennial number one and two, the Golden State and the Dairy State, respectively.

The Lone Star State also jumped on another top 10 ranking last year as the state with the second-largest improvement in new cows. According to USDA data, the Lone Star State added 15,000 head in 2025.

Additionally, Texas overtook Colorado on milk production per cow, sliding into third place in that ranking, where it finished at an average of 25,932 pounds. Also coming in bronze, Texas was third for the most cows per herd, right behind Arizona and New Mexico. As one might expect, this correlates highly with the most milk per herd, where Texas also ranked in third place.

As Texas skyrocketed in the rankings, the question might be asked, how long before it bumps Wisconsin to number three? The answer is: It isn’t going to be soon.

Approximately 1.27 million head of dairy cattle call Wisconsin home. This number is nearly double the number of cows that reside in the Lone Star State. The same can be said for milk output, as Texas will need to add more than 15 million pounds of production to overtake the Dairy State. Wisconsin milk production has risen by more than 5% in the last five years. If those trends continue, Wisconsin will maintain the second-place ranking while Texas holds its place on the dairy title podium.