March 12, 2012

US milk output to increase

US dairy production is expected to rise as the number of dairy cows in Western US increase, said the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.

Though the national dairy cow herd is expected to increase slightly for most of the projection period, the western US is the only region likely to experience growth.

California's milk cow herd fell by nearly 90 thousand head from 2008 to 2010, but the longer term trend of growth should continue there in the next decade.

Wisconsin's milk cow herd grew for the sixth consecutive year in 2011. Dairy cow numbers should be stable to modestly declining in the next decade.

Western US continues to have a sizable advantage in productivity per cow relative to other parts of the country.

National milk production per cow is projected to grow by an average of 1.2% per year in the next decade.

The southern US will exhibit the fastest per year growth rate at 1.7%, followed by the grain-producing/Great Lakes region at 1.4%.

The dairy industry is concerned with recent trends involving fluid milk consumption per person.

Though per-capita fluid consumption has been declining for quite some time, the rate of decrease has accelerated recently.

Nutrition programmes that eliminate or significantly reduce flavoured milk availability in schools could reduce long-term fluid milk demand.