News

Milk production nudges higher

Total milk production in the United States in March was 17.8 billion pounds, just o.9 percent more than March of 2013 and the smallest increase we’ve seen this year. Production per cow was 1,936 pounds and the dairy herd added 3,000 cows to over 9.2 million head. There are no number-of-cows or productio- per-cow comparisons with a year ago as USDA stopped keeping track of those numbers due to the budget sequester.

Milk production in the 23 major dairy states totaled 16.7 billion pounds in March up 1.1 percent from a year ago. Six of the 23 major dairy states, mostly in the Midwest saw a decline in production compared to a year ago as poor forage quality takes effect. New York held steady while all of the others saw an increase over last March. The total number of cows in those states increased 1,000 to 8.51 million head.

Despite the drought, California milk production continues to increase up 3.7 percent in March to 3.8 billion pounds. The Golden State’s production for the first quarter of the year is up 4.4 percent compared to the first three months of 2013.

Wisconsin milk production totaled 2.4 billion pounds in March, down 1.6 percent from a year ago. Production for the first quarter is running 2.1 percent below a year ago.

For the first quarter of 2014, U.S. milk production was 1 percent higher than the January-through-March period of 2013 at 51.1 billion pounds. There were 14,000 more cows in the nation’s dairy herd compared to the fourth-quarter of 2013.

Read the full NASS March Milk Production Report here: