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South Dakota and Indiana see largest milk production gains

Milk production during September was up slightly on the year but down slightly on the month as producers keep output low while adding cows.

USDA says production in the U.S. was up slightly more than two percent compared last year at more than 18 billion pounds with production per cow up 38 pounds from last year. 

The herd size was up 33,000 head on the year and 5,000 from last month.

Michigan continues to have the most productive cows in the nation. Vermont and Florida had the largest decrease in milk production for the second month in a row while South Dakota was up more than 12 percent, followed by Indiana, up 9 percent.

Milk production in the third quarter of 2020 was up two percent from last year during the same period with a herd size of 9.36 million cows.  The herd size increased 39,000 from the same quarter last year but was down 1,000 head from the second quarter.