Milk Production Drops Again, Up Nationally

For second consecutive month, Wisconsin dairy farmers produced less milk on their operations than they did the same time a year earlier. The USDA announced that total milk production for the 23 major dairy states in May rose by 1.5 percent from 2010 at 16 billion pounds. That figure was also higher than April's production of 15.5 billion.

Wisconsin produced 2.27 billion pounds of milk in May--down 1.8 percent below last year, but more than April's 2.19 billion pounds. California continues to have the highest total production with about 3.67 billion pounds. Texas had the highest percent-increase for the month as that state put out 8.8 percent more milk than last year at 839 million pounds.