Milk production on dairy farms in the Republic of Ireland jumped by 12.1% in April, when compared to the same month in 2016, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
This represents the second monthly increase in milk production in the current year; an increase of 3.9% was reported in March, when compared to the corresponding month last year.
Prior to this, falls of 4.6% and 7.8% (versus 2016 figures) were recorded in January and February respectively.
During the month of April, domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers was estimated at 853.1 million litres, CSO figures show. In April 2016, this figure equated to 760.8 million litres.
Comparing figures for April of this year to the same month in 2016 shows that the total amount of milk sold for human consumption increased by 0.5% to 43.9 million litres.
Meanwhile, butter production was up 2.6% to 22,260t.
Milk production on Irish dairy farms equalled 1,790.1 million litres during the first four months of the year, representing an increase of 5.7% when compared to the same period in 2016.
US milk production continued to climb
According to the latest figures released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), milk production across the US has increased for the second consecutive month.
In the 23 major states, milk production totalled 17.2 billion pounds during April of this year; this represented an increase of 2% when compared to the corresponding month in 2016.
This follows on from an increase of 1.9% in milk production during the month of March.
According to the USDA, this represented the highest production per cow level for the month of April since the 23 major state series began in 2003.
Meanwhile, there was a total of 8.72 million dairy cows on farms across the 23 major states during April; some 81,000 head more than April of last year and 8,000 head more than March 2017.