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US milk production in February totalled 7.36bn litres, which was down 1.2% from February 2016 – but up by 2.3% after taking the extra day of the 2016 leap year into account.
Figures from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that cow numbers increased by 56,000 from February 2016 to 9.37m head. This represents an increase of 4,000 head from January 2017.
Production per cow for the whole country averaged 785 litres, which was 15.5 litres lower than February 2016.
Milk production in the 23 major milk producing states totalled 6.91bn litres for February, up by 2.5% after adjusting for the leap year. Production for January was adjusted to 7.49bn litres, a 2.7% increase from January 2016.
Production per cow for the 23-major milk producing states averaged 793 litres, slightly down on the February 2016 figure.
States
California is the largest milk producing state in the US with 1.37bn litres produced in February representing 19.2% of the national total. Wisconsin produced 1.02bn litres last month with New York and Idaho producing 0.51bn litres and 0.49bn litres respectively.
The latest forecasts by USDA indicate that milk production in the US will increase by 2.3% in 2017 to 98.863m tonnes. The all-milk price for 2017 is forecast to be between $17.80 and $18.40 per 100lbs (37.02-38.27c/l).
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