Milk production across the US has increased for the second consecutive month, according to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture in the US (USDA).
In the 23 major states, milk production totalled 17.2 billion pounds during April of this year; this represented an increase of 2% compared to the corresponding month in 2016.
This follows on from an increase of 1.9% in milk production during the month of March. The USDA revised milk production figures for March of this year to 17.6 billion pounds.
The March revision represented an increase of 30 million pounds, or a jump of 0.2%, from last month’s preliminary production estimate, the USDA added.
The level of production per cow in the 23 major states averaged 1,967 pounds during the month of April, a jump of 20 pounds compared to the same month last year.
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.
Across the US, milk production totalled 18.3 billion pounds in April of this year; this was a 2% increase on the milk production levels seen in April 2016.
The population of dairy cows across the US totalled 9.39 million head in April 2017; this was 69,000 head more than April 2016 and 8,000 head more than March of this year.
Irish milk production
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that milk production climbed by 3.9% on dairy farms in the Republic of Ireland in March of this year, compared to the same month in 2016.
This was the first monthly increase in milk production reported in 2017; falls of 4.6% and 7.8%, versus 2016 figures, were recorded in January and February respectively.
In the first quarter of this year, an estimated 1,040.3 million litres of domestic milk were taken in by creameries and pasteurisers. In comparison, this figure stood at 1,029.3 million litres for the same period in 2016.