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Dairy components becoming more popular than fluid milk

  • amy55735
  • May 19
  • 1 min read

Dairy industry analysts are considering if the dairy industry needs new benchmarks to indicate how well producers are doing financially as consumer preferences have changed. While fluid milk consumption has been the benchmark for many years, dairy sector analyst Ben Laine said assessing the sale of components may be a better metric.


“Something interesting has been happening over the last several years since the COVID pandemic,” Laine said. “We are outputting the same amount of milk but with fewer cows. However, we are continuing to grow in output in terms of our components. Going forward, we are going to be talking more about component growth.”


Milk components are tallied by things like milkfat and protein elements from milk that make products like whey and cheese.


In 2023, the U.S. produced 225 billion pounds of fluid milk, and of that, nearly 500 million pounds came from states like Montana, with the state producing 226,311 pounds.


Jamie Henneman

May 16, 2025

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