USDA’s milk production report for May, released late last week, shows that U.S. dairy cow numbers have rebounded back above 9.2 million head. The last time cow numbers exceeded 9.2 million was in July 2009, in the midst of the Great Dairy Recession. Cow numbers bottomed at 9.082 million in December 2009, and have been slowly creeping back up.
May numbers, at 9.2 million, are 81,000 head higher than a year ago. Some 77,000 of those cows comes from Western states. Texas is also up 20,000 cows from a year ago.
A decline in cow numbers has come primarily from Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and non-major dairy states in the South. For the complete report, click here.
