Milk production dips in final two months of 2024, USDA reports

USA – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its latest Milk Production report on Friday, revealing a slight dip in milk production across the 24 major milk-producing states in the final two months of 2024.

December milk production reached 18.0 billion pounds, marking a 0.4% decrease compared to the same period in 2023.

This decline follows a slight decrease in November production, which was revised to 17.3 billion pounds, down 0.3% year-over-year.

“The November revision represented an increase of 89 million pounds or 0.5% from last month’s preliminary production estimate,” according to the USDA.

State-level data revealed varying trends. Oregon experienced the most significant decline in December, with production falling by 8.2%.

California, the nation’s leading milk producer, also saw a notable decrease of 6.8%. Conversely, Texas recorded the highest year-over-year increase in milk production, with a 7.5% growth in December.

Milk production per cow averaged 2,020 pounds for December 2024, a decrease of 11 pounds compared to the previous year.

This marks the second consecutive month of lower milk production per cow. November milk production per cow was revised to 1,936 pounds, down from 1,947 pounds in November 2023.

Despite the slight decline in production, the number of milk cows on farms across the 24 major states increased by 17,000 head in December 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 8.91 million head.