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January milk production still rising, US loses 7% of dairies
Milk production during January started to show some slowdown in its rate of growth compared to recent months but was still nearly two percent higher on the year.
USDA says production in the U.S. for the month was up 1.6 percent at more than 19 billion pounds with production per cow up 13 pounds from last year.
The herd size was up 85,000 head on the year and 8,000 from last month.
Michigan remained the leader in per cow output. Florida and Virginia had the largest decrease in milk production during January while Indiana was up more than 10 percent, followed closely by South Dakota, up nearly 10 percent, and Minnesota, up nearly six percent.
The USDA’s February report also includes an annual number of licensed dairy farms for 2020 which was down more than 2,500 from the prior year, or eight percent.
In the Midwest, Wisconsin lost the most dairy farms, down 610, followed by Minnesota, down 380, and Pennsylvania, down 300.
