Wisconsin Ag Connection - Revised 2007 Milk Production Report Confirms Near-Record

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Revised 2007 Milk Production Report Confirms Near-Record
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 02/22/2008

After adding up the totals from all 12 of last year's monthly milk production reports, it became evident in December that the Dairy State was on track to hit a 17-year high for total output. And now, the Wisconsin Ag Statistics Service has confirm those findings. This week, the agency reported that state milk production reached 24.1 billion pounds during 2007--the highest annual production since 1990.

Statewide, milk per cow averaged 19,310 pounds, 486 pounds more than a year earlier. In 2007, Wisconsin accounted for 13 percent of the nation's production. Nationally, 186 billion pounds of milk were produced, up two percent from 2006. Average milk per cow grew to 20,267, an increase of two percent over the previous year. The number of milk cows in the U.S. continued to grow in 2007. There were 9.16 million cows, 46,000 more than in the previous year.

California continues to be the nation's top milk producer with 40.7 billion pounds in 2007. Wisconsin was second with 24.1 billion pounds, followed by New York with 12.1 billion pounds. Idaho and Pennsylvania remained in fourth and fifth places with 11.5 and 10.7 billion pounds of milk, respectively.

During 2007, Wisconsin had 14,400 operations with milk cows, 500 fewer than a year ago. Nationally the number of operations with milk cows declined from 74,980 in 2006 to 71,510 in 2007. A milk cow operation is defined as any place having one or more head of milk cows, excluding cows used to nurse calves, on hand at any time during the year. The average number of dairy farms licensed to sell milk in Wisconsin during 2007 was 14,170, down 470 from the previous year. The U.S. total was 59,135 licensed dairy herds, a loss of 2,935 herds.

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