News

Milk production up 3.4% in January

Total milk production in the United States in January was just under 16.95 billion pounds up 3.4 percent from January of last year. The U.S. dairy herd added 76,000 cows to 9.236 million head and production per cow increased 45 pounds to average 1,835.

Milk production in the 23 major dairy states increased 3.7 percent in January to 15.8 billion pounds. Production per cow in those states up 46 pounds to average 1,857 and the number of cows increased 93,000 head to 8.5 million cows.

California milk production in January up 6.6 percent to 3.6 billion pounds. The Golden State added 29,000 cows to make the herd 1.78 million head and production per cow jumped 95 pounds to 2,030.

Wisconsin milk production totaled 2.28 billion pounds in January up 3.7 percent from a year ago. The Badger State dairy herd held steady at 1.265 million cows while production per cow increased 65 pounds to 1,800.

Rounding-out the top five milk producing states: Idaho 1.116 billion pounds up 4.7 percent from a year ago; New York 1.086 billion pounds up 0.3 percent; Pennsylvania 896 million pounds up 0.6 percent.

Of the 23 major dairy states, 21 saw an increase in production, Missouri was unchanged from 2011 while Vermont declined 0.5 percent from a year ago.

Final numbers for the year in 2011, total U.S. milk production was 196 billion pounds up 1.8 percent from 2010. Production per cow averaged 21,345 last year up 197 pounds from 2010 and the dairy herd averaged 9.19 million head up 0.8 percent from 2010.

Read the full NASS report here: