In 2015, US milk production was up 1.2% on 2014 while December milk production was up 0.7%, according to the latest figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Milk production in the 23 major States during December totalled 16.4 billion pounds.
In November, the USDA revised production at 15.6 billion pounds, up 0.7% from November 2014.
The November revision represented an increase of 26m pounds or 0.2% from last month’s preliminary production estimate.
Production per cow in the 23 major States was also up on December 2014 with cows producing, on average 1,894 pounds for December.
This figure was six pounds above December 2014 production levels.
This is the highest production per cow for the month of December since the 23 State series began in 2003, according to the USDA.
The number of dairy cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.64m head, 29,000 head more than December 2014, and 1,000 head more than November 2015.
For October to December 2015, milk production was up 0.6%, according to the data.
Milk production in the United States during the October to December quarter totalled 51.2 billion pounds, up 0.6% from the October to December quarter last year.
The average number of dairy cows in the United States during the quarter was 9.32m head, 6,000 head more than the July to September quarter, and 33,000 head more than the same period last year, the figures show.
