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: April 17, 2009
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                MINNESOTA’S MARCH MILK OUTPUT UP 2.0 PERCENT

March 2009 milk production totaled 770 million pounds in Minnesota, up 2.0
percent from the 755 million pounds produced in March 2008, according to
the USDA, NASS, Minnesota Field Office.  February milk output was revised
to 690 million pounds.

Minnesota’s production per cow averaged 1,645 pounds in March 2009, up 15
pounds from last March.  The revised February rate was 1,475 pounds per
cow.  The average number of milk cows on farms in Minnesota during March
2009 was 468,000 head, unchanged from the February number, but up 5,000
head from one year ago.

Accumulated Minnesota milk production for the first 3 months of 2009 was
2.22 billion pounds, up 0.8 percent from the same period a year ago.

           MARCH MILK PRODUCTION DOWN 0.2 PERCENT IN MAJOR STATES

Milk production during March 2009 totaled 15.2 billion pounds, down 0.2
percent from March 2008 in the 23 major States.  February’s revised
production was at 13.6 billion pounds, down 2.7 percent from February 2008.
The February revision represented a decrease of 23 million pounds from last
month’s preliminary estimate.  Production per cow in the 23 major States
averaged 1,788 pounds for March, down 6 pounds from March 2008.  The number
of milk cows in the 23 major States was 8.48 million head, 15,000 head more
than March 2008, but 4,000 head less than February 2009.

Accumulated milk production in the 23 major states for the first 3 months
of 2009 was 43.7 billion pounds, down 0.3 percent from the same period a
year ago.

                         MILK PRODUCTION, MAJOR STATES
              MILK COWS         RATE PER COW           MILK PRODUCTION
                 Feb                 Feb                 Feb       2009 as
           Mar  2009   Mar    Mar   2009  Mar     Mar   2009    Mar  % of
State     2008  Rev.  2009   2008   Rev. 2009    2008   Rev.   2009  2008
            Thousand Head          Pounds          Million Pounds  Percent
CA      1,842  1,825 1,822  1,975 1,720 1,920   3,638  3,139  3,498  96.2
ID        540    549   549  1,885 1,640 1,810   1,018    900    994  97.6
MN        463    468   468  1,630 1,475 1,645     755    690    770 102.0
NY        626    623   623  1,690 1,540 1,670   1,058    959  1,040  98.3
PA        549    551   550  1,680 1,490 1,670     922    821    919  99.7
WI      1,251  1,255 1,256  1,660 1,505 1,685   2,077  1,889  2,116 101.9
23
States  8,467  8,486 8,482  1,794 1,606 1,788  15,191 13,627 15,164  99.8