Nationally, 18.8 billion pounds of milk was produced in the 24 major dairy states for the month of May. That was down 0.6 percent from 2021, but higher than the previous month’s production of 18.3 billion pounds.
California continues to have the highest total production with about 3.65 billion pounds. South Dakota had the greatest percent-increase in output as that state produced 348 million pounds of milk–about 15.2 percent more from the same period last year. Only six of the top 24 states had higher year-to-year production last month.
Meanwhile, the number of milk cows on farms in the 24 major states was 8.91 million head, 84,000 head less than May 2021, but 2,000 head more than April 2022. The average number of milk cows on Wisconsin farms for the month was 1.27 million head–unchanged from last month, but 1,000 less than last year. Monthly production per cow averaged 2,165 pounds, which up 20 pounds from last year’s figures.
