Wisconsin dairy cows produced more milk during the month of February than they did a year earlier. According to the USDA’s monthly milk production report, state output totaled 2.33 billion pounds last month, up 1.0 percent from February 2017, but less than January’s 2.54 billion pounds (which had more days on the calendar).
Nationally, 15.9 billion pounds of milk was produced in the 23 major dairy states, which was 1.8 percent more than in 2017, and greater than the 17.3 billion pounds made this past January.
California continues to have the highest total production with about 3.2 billion pounds. Colorado had the greatest increase in year-to-year output as that state produced 337 million pounds of milk in February, up 7.7 percent from the same month last year.
Meanwhile, the number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major states was 8.75 million head, 49,000 head more than February 2017, and 1,000 head more than January 2018. The average number of milk cows on Wisconsin farms for the month was 1.28 million head, about the same as last month, but 5,000 fewer than than last year. Monthly production per cow averaged 1,830 pounds, up 10 pounds from last year’s figures.
Source: Wisconsin Ag Connection
