US: more milk with fewer cows

De American dairy processors The 23 most important states collected a total of 7,82 million tons of milk, according to figures from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). What is striking is that production in Texas in particular has increased significantly. The supply there amounts to 498.498 tons, almost 10% more than 1 year earlier. The number of dairy cows increased by 1 to 20.000 in one year.

In August 2017, Texas was hit by Hurricane Harvey. This brought the entire infrastructure to a standstill, which also resulted in a significant reduction in milk supply. Other large dairy states, such as California (+1,2%) and Wisconsin (1,4%), also now collected more milk.The milk supply is 1,4% higher than 1 year earlier. 

More milk per cow
Although milk supplies increased in August, the US had fewer dairy cows. The dairy herd is approximately 3.000 cows less, bringing the total to 8,73 million. As a result, production per cow has increased to 882 kilos per cow.

Compared to 1 month earlier, the number of dairy cows in August is 4.000 higher. This increase is somewhat remarkable, because the American media write about a sharp increase in the number of dairy cattle slaughtered.

More than 60.000 dairy cows have been slaughtered in recent weeks. The reason for this is, among other things, the bad weather conditions in the eastern US, where Hurricane Florence is making waves. The milk price has been at one for a long time low level.