March Milk Production down 0.9 Percent
Milk production in the 24 major States during March totaled 18.8 billion pounds, down 0.9 percent from March 2023. February revised production, at 17.4 billion pounds, was up 2.9 percent from February 2023. The February revision represented an increase of 82 million pounds or 0.5 percent from last month's preliminary production estimate. Adjusting February production for the additional day due to leap year causes February revised production to be down 0.7 percent on a per day basis.
Production per cow in the 24 major States averaged 2,115 pounds for March, 3 pounds below March 2023. The number of milk cows on farms in the 24 major States was 8.88 million head, 71,000 head less than March 2023, and 7,000 head less than February 2024.
January-March Milk Production up 0.1 Percent
Milk production in the United States during the January - March quarter totaled 56.9 billion pounds, up 0.1 percent from the January - March quarter last year. The average number of milk cows in the United States during the quarter was 9.33 million head, 16,000 head less than the October - December quarter, and 85,000 head less than the same period last year.
