October milk output increases 2.5 percent

October 2009 milk production totaled 743 million pounds in Minnesota, up 2.5 percent from the 725 million pounds produced in October 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Minnesota Field Office.

September milk output was revised to 725 million pounds. Minnesota’s production per cow averaged 1,585 pounds in October 2009, up 30 pounds from last October. The revised September rate was 1,545 pounds per cow.

The average number of milk cows on farms in Minnesota during October 2009 was 469,000 head, unchanged from the September number, but up 3,000 head from one year ago.

Accumulated Minnesota milk production for the first 10 months of 2009 was 7.53 billion pounds, up 2.9 percent from the same period a year ago.

OCTOBER MILK PRODUCTION DOWN 1.1 PERCENT IN MAJOR STATES
Milk production during October 2009 totaled 14.3 billion pounds, down 1.1 percent from October 2008 in the 23 major States. September’s revised production was at 14.0 billion pounds, down 0.5 percent from September 2008. The September revision represented an increase of 16 million pounds from last month’s preliminary estimate.

Production per cow in the 23 major States averaged 1,721 pounds for October, up 21 pounds from October 2008. The number of milk cows in the 23 major States was 8.32 million head, 196,000 head less than October 2008, and 22,000 head less than September 2009.

Accumulated milk production in the 23 major states for the first 10 months of 2009 was 146.7 billion pounds, up 0.1 percent from the same period a year ago.