The hot and dry summer weather did not stop Wisconsin dairy cows from having a big month for milk production. Figures released by the USDA show the Badger State produced 2.25 billion pounds of milk in June, up 2.5 percent from the same month a year ago.
Nationally, the increase was just 0.9 percent, the smallest year-to-year jump so far in 2012.
Wisconsin added 6,000 cows last month to a herd that totals 1.25 million, and the state’s average production per cow rose by 35-pounds.
Wisconsin is the nation’s second-largest milk producer. First-place California raised its production by only three-tenths of a percent from last June, and its output per cow dropped by 10 pounds.
Of the 23 major dairy producing states, five had decreases in production, including neighboring Iowa and Minnesota. Two other states had no change.
