Milk per Cow is Increasing in These States.

Milk per cow has continued to increase.  Since the beginning of 2018 through September of 2021, monthly milk per cow has increased by 3.9 percent in the U.S.  In 2021, the most recent 12-month average increase is 1.1 percent.  The April 2020 post to this blog has a chart of milk per cow dating back to 2014. Milk per cow was growing by just under one percent per year during the six-year span in that blog. While the overall U.S. growth rate in milk per cow consistently averages around one percent, the variances by state are very different.

Chart I is the 12-month average milk per cow from 2018 through September 2021.  While there have been dips, there is a consistent increase over time.  

Chart I - Milk per cow for the U.S.

Chart II covers the 24 largest milk producing states ordered by highest to lowest in milk per cow.  The difference is dramatic.  Monthly milk per cow by state varies from 1685 to 2266 pounds per month.  Cows in Michigan are producing 34 percent more milk than the cows in Florida.

Chart II - Monthly Milk per Cow by State

Table I below shows the 2021 milk per cow for the five states with the highest milk per cow.  The five states are all well above the U.S. average with Michigan well above all other states.  

Table I - The Top Five States in Milk per Cow

Table II lists the top five states in growth of milk per cow.  By comparison, there were five states with negative or no growth in milk per cow.  The data in this section measures the increases from the end of 2017 to September 2021

Table II - The Top Five Growth States in Milk per Cow

The six major dairy producing states with the fastest growth in milk per cow are shown in Charts III to VI below.

California is the growth leader in milk per cow.  Chart VIII compares the 12-month averages from the end of 2017 to September 2021.  During this time California increased milk per cow by 6.8 percent,

Chart III - California Milk per Cow

Minnesota ranked second in Table II with a 6.1 percent growth over the span of this analysis.

Chart IV - Minnesota Milk per Cow

Texas, Chart IV, has also seen significant growth in milk per cow.  The increases were not as consistent as California or Minnesota, but the results in total were close with a 5.8 percent growth.  Texas has been ranked in the top five in terms of other statistics like the growing number of cows in the state.  The Southwest Federal Order which includes Texas and New Mexico were ranked high in component levels for butterfat and milk protein.

Chart V - Texas Milk per Cow

Wisconsin, which is listed in Table I and Table II, is one of the five highest producing states in milk per cow and is also one of the top five in growth of milk per cow.  Wisconsin is growing by 4.7 percent.

Chart VI - Wisconsin Milk per Cow

Michigan has the highest level of milk per cow as shown in Table I.  When a state is at the top, it's hard to grow as fast as other states, but Michigan still had a 3.3 percent growth in milk per cow since the beginning of 2018.

Chart VII - Michigan Milk per Cow

In prior posts, analysis have been done in detail state-by-state and Federal Order by Federal Order comparing trends and differences.

The July 2021 post analyzed where the cows were moving by state.  Texas is showing the fastest growth.

The October 2021 post covered de-pooling by Federal Order.  California de-pooled 98 percent of their Class III milk in 2021.

The September 26 post covered the increases in cheese production state by state.  Cheese production is increasing by 2.8 percent annually overall.  South Dakota increased cheese production by 29 percent over the last three years.

The October 14 post covered the increase in component levels.  Butterfat levels were increasing from 3.88 percent in 2020 to 3.94 percent in 2021.  Protein levels increased from 3.14 percent in 2020 to 3.18 percent in 2021.  The Southwest, Texas and New Mexico, had the highest butterfat and protein levels. 

The huge geographical difference in milk per cows is puzzling, as the improvements made in some areas do not seem to be implemented in other areas.   Comments on the differences are encouraged.