Milk production in Iowa during March 2019 totaled 449 million pounds, down 1 percent from the previous March according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Milk Production report. The average number of milk cows during March, at 217,000 head, was down 3,000 from both last month and last year. It is noteworthy that Iowa has lost over 100 dairy herds over the past past year.
Monthly production per cow averaged 2,070 pounds, even with last March.
Milk production in the 23 major States during March totaled 17.8 billion pounds, down 0.1 percent from March 2018. February revised production at 16.0 billion pounds, was up 0.4 percent from February 2018. The February revision represented a decrease of 37 million pounds or 0.2 percent from last month’s preliminary production estimate.
Production per cow in the 23 major States averaged 2,044 pounds for March, 10 pounds above March 2018. This is the highest production per cow for the month of March since the 23 State series began in 2003.
The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.71 million head, 50,000 head less than March 2018, and 9,000 head less than February 2019.
Milk production in the United States during the January – March quarter totaled 54.5 billion pounds, up 0.2 percent from the January – March quarter last year.
The average number of milk cows in the United States during the quarter was 9.35 million head, 8,000 head less than the October – December quarter, and 84,000 head less than the same period last year.