US milk production was 2% higher than April 2016, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The increase can be attributed to a surge in cow numbers, with dairy cows up by 69,000 from last year and also 8,000 higher than March 2017.

Texas had the biggest gain – it was up by 12.8%, with New Mexico up by 7.5% and Colorado up 7.2%.

Cow number were 45,000 higher in Texas than they were in April 2016, which was nearly a 10% increase, while numbers in New Mexico increased by 5.5% or 17,000.

Colorado

Numbers were also up by 10,000 in Colorado, a 6.7% increase.

In the case of both Texas and New Mexico, the increases are still likely to be due to the recovery from the major blizzard that hit the two states last winter, but Colorado is seeing expansion in dairying to fill growing plant capacity.

Production down

However, milk production was down on the west coast, with California down by 1.1% and a drop of 11,000 cows.

Washington production was down by 2.5%, Oregon by 4.1% and Idaho down by 0.7%, even though cow numbers there were up by 5,000.

The other major milk-producing states held their own, with Wisconsin up by 0.6%, New York increasing by 3.9% and Pennsylvania 2.5% higher.

Every 1% of annual milk production increase in the US represents 1m tonnes.