The 24 states that produce the most milk totaled 18.1 billion pounds in December, down 0.1 percent from December 2022. November’s revised production, at 17.3 billion pounds, was 0.6 percent below November 2022. The November revision represented a decrease of 14 million pounds or less than 0.1 percent from November’s preliminary production estimate.
The USDA says production per cow in those states averaged 2,030 pounds for December, one pound above December 2022. The number of milk cows on farms in the 24 states was 8.9 million head, 17,000 head below December 2022 but unchanged from November 2023.
U.S. milk production during the October-December quarter totaled 55.6 billion pounds, down 0.6 percent from the same quarter in 2023. The average number of milk cows in the U.S. during the quarter was 9.36 million head, 16,000 head less than the July-September quarter, and 44,000 head less than the same time during the prior year.