U.S. milk production remained below that of a year ago for the sixth consecutive month. The Agriculture Department’s preliminary data for December pegged output at 18.84 billion pounds, down 0.3% from December 2022.The top 24-state total, at 18.1 billion pounds, was off 0.1%.
The November 50-state total was revised down 24 million pounds from last month’s estimate, which put output down 0.7% from 2022, unchanged from last month’s report. The 24-state revision was down 14 million pounds, down 0.6%.
Cow numbers totaled 9.357 million, down 1,000 from the November count which was revised 2,000 head lower from a month ago and is down 39,000 head or 0.4% from a year ago. The herd peaked at 9.44 million in March but is currently the smallest since June 2020. The 24-state count was unchanged from November, which was revised up 3,000 head, but was 17,000 below a year ago.
Jan 31, 2024
