December Milk Production Up 3.1 Percent

Milk production in the 23 major States during December totaled 14.4 billion pounds, up 3.1 percent from December 2006. November revised production, at 13.8 billion pounds, was up 3.9 percent from November 2006. The November revision represented an increase of 13 million pounds or 0.1 percent from last month's preliminary production estimate.

Production per cow in the 23 major States averaged 1,719 pounds for December, 29 pounds above December 2006.

The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.38 million head, 107,000 head more than December 2006, and 14,000 head more than November 2007.

October - December Milk Production up 3.2 Percent

Milk production in the U.S. during the October - December quarter totaled 46.0 billion pounds, up 3.2 percent from the October - December quarter last year. The average number of milk cows in the U.S. during the quarter was 9.20 million head, 80,000 head more than the same period last year.