Wisconsin Ag Connection - State, National Milk Production Up in December

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State, National Milk Production Up in December
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 02/21/2019

Wisconsin dairy cows continued to produce more milk during the month of December than they did a year earlier. According to the USDA's monthly milk production report, state output totaled 2.57 billion pounds during the final month of last year, up 1.4 percent from December 2017, and more than November's 2.44 billion pounds (which had less days on the calendar). The figures were delayed until this week because of the recent government shutdown.

Nationally, 17.1 billion pounds of milk was produced in the 23 major dairy states for the month, which was 0.9 percent greater than in 2017, but less than the previous month's 16.4 billion.

California continues to have the highest total production with about 3.42 billion pounds. Colorado had the largest increase in year-to-year output as that state produced 391 million pounds of milk in December, up 6.0 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major states was 8.72 million head, 21,000 head less than December 2017, and 2,000 head below November 2018. The average number of milk cows on Wisconsin farms for the month was 1.27 million head, down 1,000 from last month, and 5,000 head less than last year. Monthly production per cow averaged 2,025 pounds, up 35 pounds from last year's figures.

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