Down 0.2 percent, with 19.0 billion lbs. of milk, the August 2023 USDA Milk Production report did not document much change from the previous year. Following suite, milk production per cow in the 24 major states declined by 1 lb. per cow. Total cow numbers reported 9.39 million head, 16,000 fewer head than last year, but unchanged from July 2023.
“At a high level, down is down. Milk production trailed 2022 levels and, more importantly, cow numbers are down, too. We expect that to persist,” Phil Plourd, president of Ever.Ag Insights says. “Overall, however, we thought the numbers would be a little lower. But California comparisons got a little easier and slaughter activity wasn’t quite as intense as the month came to a close.”
New York Moves Up
Among the top six production states New York surpassed Texas to move into the fourth spot, largely due to the impact of a massive barn fire in Texas earlier this year.
| State | Production | % Change | Cows |
| California | 3.521 billion | -5.5% | -7,000 |
| Wisconsin | 2.766 billion | 1.1% | -3,000 |
| Idaho | 1.462 billion | 0.0% | 9,000 |
| New York | 1.386 billion | 3.7% | 7,000 |
| Texas | 1.340 billion | -3.0% | -15,000 |
| Michigan | 1.036 billion | 3.9% | 12,000 |
The largest production declines were seen in California (-194 million pounds), New Mexico (-54 million), and Texas (-41 million). The largest increases came from New York (50 million), Michigan (39 million), Wisconsin (31 million), and South Dakota (30 million).
“The brutal weather in California sent their production per cow down to 105 pounds,” says Erick Metzger, general manager of National All-Jersey. “For reference, the next largest decrease in production per cow was New Mexico at -70 pounds.”
Metzger points out that the loss of 15,000 cows from the Texas barn fire accounts for nearly all the decline in cows from August 2022.
“It’s interesting how much impact that tragic barn fire in Texas had,” he says.
