
The current trade war between the U.S. and China continues to bring uncertainty in agriculture. As our dairy prices fluctuate in the recent weeks due to the trade uncertainty we continue to produce more milk.
According to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service Milk Production report, Milk production in Wisconsin during June 2018 totaled 2.56 billion pounds, up 1 percent from the previous June. The average number of milk cows in the badgerstate in June was 1.27 million head. This is the same amount of cow producing in May but down 4,000 from last year. Monthly production per cow averaged 2,010 pounds, up 30 pounds from last June.
Then looking at the 23 major dairy states during June their milk production totaled 17.2 billion pounds, up 1.3 percent from June 2017. May revised production at 18.0 billion pounds, was up 1.1 percent from May 2017. The May revision represented an increase of 40 million pounds or 0.2 percent from last month’s preliminary production estimate.
Production per cow in the 23 major states averaged 1,964 pounds for June, 23 pounds above June 2017. This is the highest production per cow for the month of June since the 23 State series began in 2003. The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.75 million head, 12,000 head more than June 2017, but unchanged from May 2018.
Just like Wisconsin the overall milk production in the United States during the April – June quarter increased. The total production was 55.8 billion pounds, up 0.8 percent from the April – June quarter last year. The average number of milk cows in the United States during the quarter was 9.40 million head, 3,000 head less than the January – March quarter, but 4,000 head more than the same period last year.
This report continues to show the slight increase we see in milk production that has been reported for the post few monthly reports. For the full June USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service Milk Production report, visit www.nass.usda.gov.