After a slight reshuffling in 2011, there was no movement amongst the top 10 dairy states in 2012, reports Hoard’s Dairyman. The only states among this group to see drops in milk output were New Mexico and Pennsylvania, down 0.3 and 0.5 percent, respectively.
Alphabetically the first two states in our nation, Alabama and Alaska, also saw the largest production reduction, 9 and 17.4 percent losses, respectively. Alaska also lost 20 percent of their cows. Colorado on the other hand posted a 7.1 percent gain.
Despite sitting ninth overall, New Mexico continued to dominate the milk per cow ranking at 24,694 pounds per cow.
Top 10 milk production states
State Milk, million pounds
1. California 41,801
2. Wisconsin 27,224
3. Idaho 13,558
4. New York 13,196
5. Pennsylvania 10,493
6. Texas 9,596
7. Minnesota 9,071
8. Michigan 8,889
9. New Mexico 8,149
10. Washington 6,234
Top 10 total 148,211
U.S. total 200,324
Source: www.wfbf.com