April 17, 2006

USDA predicts milk production would be up by 3 percent this year
 

The USDA has edged up its estimate for milk production by 0.1 percent to 182.2 billion pounds this year.

This would mean that milk production would have risen almost 3 percent from the 177 billion pounds last year.

Production may go even higher barring any significant herd reduction in the coming months.

However, the summer months may bring about lower milk production due to the heat affecting the milk-producing ability of cows. On the other hand, the effects of summer have been mitigated over the years by improvements in technology.