Dr. Cameron Thraen, Milk Marketing Specialist, The Ohio State University, Additional milk marketing information by Dr. Thraen
Each February, the United States Department of Agriculture, in the report Milk Production, releases estimates of the number of dairy farm operations by state and the entire United States. These numbers are reported for all operations with at least one milk cow, and beginning in 2003 they provide a separate estimate of licensed dairy operations. They also release information on the number of dairy farm operations classified by the number of cows in the operation. Tables 1 and 2 below show you a summary of this information for Ohio over the time period 2001 to 2005. During this period, the number of US dairy operations, with at least one milk cow, decreased by 14.8%, from 91,990 in 2002 to 78,295 in 2005. The US licensed operations declined by 8% over 2003 to 2005. Today, there are an estimated 64,555 licensed dairy operations in the United States.
Table 1. Ohio dairy operations with at least one cow by herd size.
| Year |
1-29 Head
|
30-49 Head
|
50-99 Head
|
100-199 Head
|
200-499 Head
|
500+ Head
|
Total Operations
|
| 2002 |
2300
|
860
|
1200
|
480
|
135
|
25
|
5000 |
| 2003 |
2100
|
860
|
1100
|
470
|
140
|
30
|
4700 (3960)1 |
| 2004 |
2000
|
800
|
1000
|
525
|
140
|
35
|
4500 (3780)1 |
| 2005 |
1900
|
850
|
950
|
500
|
150
|
50
|
4400 (3610)1 |
1Number of licensed operations.
Table 2. Ohio dairy operations with at least one cow by herd size (%).
| Year |
1-99 Head
|
100-199 Head
|
200-499 Head
|
500+ Head
|
| 2002 |
87.2
|
9.6
|
2.7
|
0.5
|
| 2003 |
86.4
|
10.0
|
3.0
|
0.6
|
| 2004 |
84.4
|
11.7
|
3.1
|
0.8
|
| 2005 |
84.1
|
11.4
|
3.4
|
1.1
|