1-24-13
Wisconsin dairy cows were extremely busy during the holidays, as the state’s milk production rose by a sizable five-and-a-half percent compared to a year ago.
Officials said the Badger State made just over two-and-a-third billion pounds of milk in December while California – the nation’s leading milk producer – had a two-point-three percent drop to three-point-four billion pounds. Wisconsin’s increase was almost three-and-a-half times the national jump of one-point-six percent. U-S dairy farms made almost 17 billion pounds of milk last month. All but just over a billion pounds were produced in the 23 major dairy states, where production rose one-point-seven percent from a year ago. Wisconsin, the nation’s Number-two milk state, add five-thousand cows to a herd that now totals just over one-and-a-quarter million. Production per cow rose by 90 pounds, to 18-hundred-45. Meanwhile, California state officials have granted a temporary payment price for that state’s milk from February through May. Golden State producers have been calling for a higher pay price, after feed prices began to skyrocket last summer.
Wheeler News
