February 6, 2013

As of February 1, 2013, there were 11,119 dairy herds in Wisconsin, down 36 from the end of January and down 604 from a year ago.

This is according to USDA's National Ag Statistics Service Wisconsin Field Office report.

About 87% of the state's dairy herds are Grade A operations. There are 834 Grade B operations of which 615 are can milk.

Clark County continues to have the most herds, 924 including 207 can milk farms. Marathon County has 664 dairy herds but no can milk farms. Grant County has 433 herds with no can milk producers, Vernon County has 416 herds with 165 can milk farms. Monroe County has 346 herds including 134 can milk operations.

While dairy herd numbers have steadily declined in America's Dairyland, the total number of dairy cows nudged higher last year to 1.27 million head.