George C. Ford, CR Gazette –
A warmer February increased milk production by 5.9 percent to a record in Iowa, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also reported a 4.6 percent jump nationwide.
Cows in the 23 major milk-producing states produced an average 1,782 pounds for February, 117 pounds more than in February 2011, according to the USDA. The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major milk producing states was 8.51 million head, which was 102,000 more than in February 2011 and 8,000 more than in January 2012.
The number of milk cows on Iowa farms declined by 3,000 head to 205,000, but with cows producing an average 120 pounds more milk in February than in the same month of 2011, overall milk production increased 5.9 percent to 359 million pounds.
Iowa ranks 12th among the 23 milk-producing states with California coming in an No. 1 with 3.5 billion pounds of milk last month. Wisconsin is ranked second with 2.2 billion pounds of milk in February, followed by New York and Idaho with about 1 billion pounds during the period.
Annual Iowa milk production ended 2011 at 4.345 million pounds, up 0.18 percent from 2010. Milk production per cow continued to increase at an average of 1.7 percent per year.
