MarketView...U.S. Dairy Outlook Brief March - May 2011

Dr. Cameron Thraen, State Extension Specialist, The Ohio State University

The USDA Milk Production Report, released February 18, 2011, contains some interesting numbers and charts on the trend in milk production for the United States over the last 10 years.  This edition of MarketView will highlight a few of the major trends.

Milk Production

Milk Production

As you can see from the chart, milk production has resumed an upward trend after declining only a small amount in 2009.  The impact of the fall in milk prices and higher feed prices back in early 2009 has all but vanished, as milk output has now returned to its long term upward trend.

Milk per Cow

Milk per cow over this 10-year period is also on par for the 10-year trend.   Milk production per cow for all the United States exceeded 21,000 lb in 2010.

Rate per Cow

Milk Cows

The number of milk cows in the United States ended 2010 down from 2009.  This decline matches the reduction which took place over the years 2003-2004.

Milk Cows

Number of Licensed Dairy Herds

The number of licensed dairy herds operating in the United States declined from 54,932 in 2009 to 53,127 in 2010.  This drop of 1,805 dairy operations represents a 3.2% decline in the number of dairy licenses.  All states gave up some dairy farms last year.  Ohio licensed dairy farms dropped by 1.8% (60 farms) from the 3,310 reported for 2009 production year to the 3,250 reported for the 2010 production year.

To keep up with the daily dairy futures market and other important market news, visit the OhioDairyWeb 2011 website:  http://aede.osu.edu/programs/ohiodairy.