Milk production in the 23 major producing states during March totaled 17.8 billion lb., down 0.1% from March 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest “Milk Production” report. USDA also revised February production to 16.0 billion lb., a 0.4% increase from February 2018. The February revision represented a decrease of 37 million lb., or 0.2%, from last month’s preliminary production estimate.
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USDA reported that production per cow in the 23 major states averaged 2,044 lb. for March, 10 lb. above March 2018 and the highest production per cow for the month of March since the 23-state series began in 2003.
According to the report, the number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major states was 8.71 million head, 50,000 head less than March 2018 and 9,000 head less than February 2019.
Overall, milk production in the U.S. during the January-to-March quarter totaled 54.5 billion lb., up only 0.2% from the January-to-March quarter last year.
The average number of milk cows in the U.S. during the quarter was 9.35 million head, 8,000 head less than the October-to-December quarter and 84,000 head less than the same period last year.