California and Wisconsin still dominate U.S. milk production, accounting for one-third of total output, but the dairy industry went through a substantial restructuring in the past 20 years, said USDA analysts. There were 26,290 dairy herds licensed to sell milk in 2023, compared to 70,375 herds in 2003; and milk production of 226.4 billion pounds last year was 33 percent larger than the 170.3 billion pounds two decades earlier.
Texas and Idaho expanded production to become two of the five largest dairy states during that period, each with 7 percent of U.S. production. Meanwhile, California’s share of production dipped to 18 percent, a decline of 3 percentage points. Wisconsin produces 14 percent of U.S. milk today, up 1 point from 2002.
There are fewer dairy cows nationwide but they each produce more milk, and very large dairy farms, with more than 2,000 head, are the source of 39 percent of the milk supply. Dairy farms tend to be larger in the West.
“Not only have dairy farms become larger, but they have become more specialized in dairy production, lowering their production of other farm commodities and depending more heavily on purchased rather than homegrown feeds,” said the Economic Research Service report. “Larger dairy farms have tended to be more specialized in dairy production than smaller dairy farms and are the greater adopters of the most advanced technologies, management practices, and production systems.”
To read the USDA report, “Structure, costs and technology used on U.S. dairy farms,” click here.