US February milk production shows slight increase

Milk production in the US has increased marginally over the last month, according to data released on March 18 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, USDA.

Milk production in the 23 major states during February totalled 13.6 billion pounds, up 0.1% from February 2009. January revised production at 14.8 billion pounds, was down 0.5% from January 2009. The January revision represented an increase of 14 million pounds or 0.1 % from last month's preliminary production estimate.

Production per cow in the 23 major states averaged 1,640 pounds for February, 35 pounds above February 2009.

The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.32 million head, 168,000 head less than February 2009, but 3,000 head more than January 2010.