mn-press-releases
                            MINNESOTA AG NEWS

USDA, NASS                                 MN Dept of Agriculture
MINNESOTA FIELD OFFICE                     PO Box 7068, St. Paul, MN 55107
Douglas Hartwig, Director                  Phone: (651) 296-2230
Homepage: http://www.nass.usda.gov/mn/     E-mail: nass-mn@nass.usda.gov
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                            MILK PRODUCTION
                       Released: March 18, 2009       
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             MINNESOTA’S FEBRUARY MILK OUTPUT DOWN 1.0 PERCENT

February 2009 milk production totaled 697 million pounds in Minnesota, down
1.0 percent from the 704 million pounds produced in February 2008,
according to the USDA, NASS, Minnesota Field Office.  January milk output
was revised to 761 million pounds.

Minnesota’s production per cow averaged 1,490 pounds in February 2009, down
30 pounds from last February.  The revised January rate was 1,625 pounds
per cow.  The average number of milk cows on farms in Minnesota during
February 2009 was 468,000 head, unchanged from the January number, but up
5,000 head from one year ago.

Accumulated Minnesota milk production for the first 2 months of 2009 was
1.46 billion pounds, up 0.6 percent from the same period a year ago.

         FEBRUARY MILK PRODUCTION DOWN 2.5 PERCENT IN MAJOR STATES

Milk production during February 2009 totaled 13.7 billion pounds, down 2.5
percent from February 2008 in the 23 major States.  January’s revised
production was at 14.9 billion pounds, up 1.1 percent from January 2008.
The January revision represented an increase of 52 million pounds from last
month’s preliminary estimate.  Production per cow in the 23 major States
averaged 1,608 pounds for February, down 48 pounds from February 2008.  The
number of milk cows in the 23 major States was 8.49 million head, 31,000
head more than February 2008, but 16,000 head less than January 2009.

Accumulated milk production in the 23 major states for the first 2 months
of 2009 was 28.5 billion pounds, down 0.8 percent from the same period a
year ago.
                     
                       MILK PRODUCTION, MAJOR STATES
             MILK COWS          RATE PER COW            MILK PRODUCTION                       
                Jan                  Jan                  Jan       2009 as
         Feb   2009    Feb    Feb   2009    Feb    Feb   2009    Feb  % of
State   2008   Rev.   2009   2008   Rev.   2009   2008    Rev.  2009  2008
          Thousand Head            Pounds           Million Pounds  Percent
CA     1,840  1,830  1,824  1,810  1,885  1,720  3,330  3,450  3,137   94.2
ID       537    554    552  1,750  1,810  1,670    940  1,003    922   98.1
MN       463    468    468  1,520  1,625  1,490    704    761    697   99.0
NY       626    624    623  1,590  1,670  1,540    995  1,042    959   96.4
PA       551    550    551  1,540  1,630  1,490    849    897    821   96.7
WI     1,250  1,255  1,255  1,545  1,645  1,500  1,931  2,064  1,883   97.5
23
States 8,457  8,504  8,488  1,656  1,753  1,608 14,007 14,907 13,650   97.5