US milk production increased 1.9% in August 2016 on the corresponding month in 2015, the latest figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) show.
Milk production in the 23 major states during August totalled 16.7 billion pounds and production per cow averaged 1,920 pounds.
While milk production continues to increase in the US, so does the number of dairy cows.
Dairy cow numbers on farms in the 23 major states stood at 8.68m head for August, an increase of 43,000 head on August 2015 and 15,000 head more than July 2016.
Meanwhile, US milk production for 2017 is forecast to rise to 215.8 billion pounds, according to the latest USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
Higher forecast milk prices and lower feed costs in late 2016 and 2017 are expected to lead to a modest expansion in the cow inventory and more rapid growth in milk per cow.
While milk production continues to increase in the US, in the other major milk producing regions, production is declining.
The latest milk production figures for the EU show that milk production for July 2016 was down 1.4% on the corresponding period last year and further decreases are expected for 2016.
In Australia, where the new season has just begun, July milk production was down 10.3% on the corresponding month in 2015.
Milk production for the opening month of the 2016/2017 season stood at 624,605L, a decline from the 696,647L produced in July 2015.
Australia’s largest milk producing state, Victoria, recorded a drop of 11.2% to 408,112L.
In New Zealand, the latest figures from Statistics New Zealand show that July milk production increased marginally on July 2015 with 19,923kg of milk solids being produced.
