January Milk Production Up, But Just Barely
The United States Department of Agriculture reports this afternoon that January milk production was up just 0.3% over a year ago, and cow numbers up just 2,000 head.
For all of 2015, U.S. milk production was up 1.3%, climbing to 208.6 billion lb. The average number of cows on farms last year was 9.317 million head, and milk per cow averaged 22,393 lb.
In January, California milk production was again down, some 2.7%, for the 14th consecutive month of declining production. New Mexico, down 12% and 13,000 cows, and Texas, down 6.7% and 15,000 cows, probably reflect the aftershock of the Christmas week blizzard that struck the Southwest United States.
Wisconsin was up 4.1% in January, with cow numbers up 5,000 head over a year ago. South Dakota was up 12.2%, with cow numbers 12,000 head above January 2014.
Read the full report here.
