Sustainability

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Texas dairies strive to be good environmental stewards — they live on or near their farms, and they depend on the land, water and air to make a living and to raise a family.

Producing a gallon of milk requires 30% less water, 21% less land and has a 19% smaller carbon footprint compared to 2007.
Water used on the farm is recycled and used multiple times.
U.S. dairy accounts for 5.1% of water used nationally.
Cows keep tons of waste out of landfills – about 80% of their diet are food byproducts (such as almond shells and cottonseed hulls) that can’t be consumed by humans.
Farms use manure as field fertilizer, eliminating the need for chemicals and increasing the soil's water-holding capacity by 20%, requiring less groundwater for irrigation.
New technologies and new manure management methods adopted by dairy farmers keep manure from harming air and water quality. For example, anaerobic digesters convert manure to methane gas.
The U.S. dairy industry has committed to becoming carbon neutral or better by 2050.
Dairies are tightly regulated by state and federal agencies. Dairies must demonstrate they meet environmental standards to receive operating permits from these agencies.