Okeechobee County continues to be the leading county in
Florida with over 2.5 times as many dairy cows as any other county.
The four leading counties (Okeechobee, Gilchrist, Lafayette and
Suwannee) accounted for over 44 percent of the dairy cows in Florida.
| FLORIDA MILK COWS Inventory by county, January 1, 1997-2002 | ||||||
| County | Number of head 1/ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | |
| Alachua | 3,000 | 3,800 | 3,200 | 2,500 | 2,000 | 1,800 |
| Brevard | 3,200 | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ |
| Clay | 5,300 | 6,100 | 7,000 | 6,500 | 5,500 | 2/ |
| Duval | 3,500 | 3,800 | 3,600 | 4,000 | 3,800 | 4,200 |
| Escambia | 1,700 | 1,600 | 1,400 | 1,600 | 1,300 | 1,200 |
| Gilchrist | 13,500 | 14,000 | 12,000 | 13,000 | 14,000 | 13,000 |
| Hardee | 8,500 | 8,800 | 8,800 | 9,600 | 9,500 | 8,000 |
| Hernando | 2,600 | 2,600 | 3,100 | 3,000 | 2,700 | 2,500 |
| Highlands | 8,300 | 6,500 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 6,500 | 7,000 |
| Hillsborough | 6,100 | 4,400 | 5,000 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 4,500 |
| Holmes | 1,100 | 1,200 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 800 | 800 |
| Jackson | 2,100 | 2,200 | 2,800 | 2,500 | 2,200 | 2/ |
| Lafayette | 11,000 | 13,000 | 11,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,500 |
| Lake | 2,900 | 2,600 | 2,600 | 2,600 | 2,600 | 2,700 |
| Levy | 7,400 | 7,400 | 8,000 | 8,500 | 8,500 | 8,800 |
| Manatee | 5,900 | 4,100 | 6,100 | 4,000 | 5,000 | 5,500 |
| Marion | 3,100 | 3,000 | 3,400 | 3,300 | 3,300 | 3,300 |
| Martin | 1,900 | 1,900 | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ |
| Nassau | 2,000 | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ |
| Okeechobee | 33,000 | 36,000 | 35,000 | 34,000 | 32,000 | 32,000 |
| Pasco | 3,900 | 5,100 | 4,000 | 4,500 | 4,800 | 4,900 |
| Polk | 1,700 | 2,200 | 2,200 | 2,000 | 2/ | 2/ |
| Sumter | 1,600 | 2,000 | 1,500 | 1,400 | 1,200 | 1,000 |
| Suwannee | 6,800 | 7,400 | 9,500 | 8,000 | 8,500 | 9,800 |
| Washington | 1,000 | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ | 2/ |
| Other counties 3/ | 16,400 | 19,800 | 19,300 | 20,000 | 24,000 | 28,200 |
| Non-commercial 4/ | 500 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 300 | 300 |
| Total | 158,000 | 160,000 | 157,000 | 156,000 | 155,000 | 152,000 |
|
1/ All milk cows both dry and in milk which have calved at least once. 2/ Combined with other counties to avoid disclosing individual operations. 3/ Other counties combined to avoid disclosing individual operations include: Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Glades, Hamilton, Indian River, Jefferson, Leon, Madison, Martin, Nassau, Osceola, Polk, Putnam, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Volusia and Washington. 4/ Non-commercial production is used on farms where produced. |
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