Milk production in Iowa during September 2017 totaled 420 million pounds according to the USDA Iowa Ag News report released on October 20. This was up four percent from the previous September. The average number of milk cows during September was 219,000, the same as last month and 5,000 head more than last year. Monthly production per cow averaged 1,920 pounds, up 40 pounds from last September.
Milk production in the 23 major states during September totaled 16.2 billion pounds, up 1.2 percent from September 2016. August revision represented an increase of eight million pounds or less than 0.1 percent from the last month’s preliminary production estimate.
Production per cow averaged 1,851 pounds for September, six pounds above the previous year and is the highest production per cow for the month of September since the 23-state series began in 2003.
The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major states was 8.74 million head, 73,000 head more than September 2016, but 3,000 head less than August 2017.