News

December milk production up on year

The USDA says milk production during December 2018 in the top 23 states was 17.133 billion pounds, up 0.9% from December 2017. Average production in those 23 states was a record 1,966 pounds per cow, a jump of 23 pounds on the year, while the number of milk cows was 8.734 million head, down 21,000 from the year before.

For all states, production during December was 18.155 billion pounds, 0.5% higher, with an average of 1,942 pounds per cow and a herd of 9.351 million head.

California was the leader in production and herd size, followed by Wisconsin in both categories, while Michigan had the highest average, just ahead of Colorado.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, production was 53.349 billion pounds, up 0.5%, while the number of milk cows was 9.357 million head.

The preliminary estimate of 2018 milk production in all states was 217.476 billion pounds, up 0.9% from 2017, with the average cow producing 23,173 pounds of milk for the year.