Wisconsin Ag Connection - Wisconsin's July Milk Per Cow Output Nearly Breaks Record

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

Wisconsin's July Milk Per Cow Output Nearly Breaks Record
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 08/22/2016

Wisconsin dairy farmers are now going on their 27th consecutive month of seeing monthly increases in milk production compared to year-ago levels. According to the USDA's monthly milk production report, the Dairy State produced 2.56 billion pounds of milk last month, up 2.1 percent from July 2015, and more than June's 2.54 billion pounds (which had one less day on the calendar).

Nationally, 16.8 billion pounds of milk was produced in the 23 major dairy states, which was up 1.4 percent higher than in 2015, and greater than the previous month's 16.7 billion.

California continues to have the highest total production with about 3.37 billion pounds, despite being one of just five states with lower annual output. South Dakota had the greatest increase in year-to-year production as that state produced 215 million pounds of milk in July, up 5.9 percent from the same month last year.

Meanwhile, the number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major states was 8.65 million head, 19,000 head more than July 2015, and 2,000 more than June 2016. The average number of milk cows on Wisconsin farms for the month was nearly 1.28 million head, about 2,000 less than last year, but about the same as July 2016. Monthly production per cow averaged 2,005 pounds, up 45 pounds from last July--making it the second highest monthly milk per cow for Wisconsin, behind May of this year.

Other Wisconsin Headlines