New York milk production edges up in March

New York dairy farms produced nearly 1.33 billion pounds of milk in March, up 0.5 percent from 1.32 billion pounds in the year-prior month, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported.

Milk production per cow in the state averaged 2,120 pounds in March, up 0.5 percent from 2,110 pounds a year ago.

The number of milk cows on farms in New York state totaled 626,000 head in March, unchanged from March 2020, NASS reported.

As for milk prices, New York dairy farmers in February were paid an average of $17.40 per hundredweight, up 30 cents from January, but down $1.70 from February 2020.

In neighboring Pennsylvania, dairy farms produced 893 million pounds of milk in March, down 1.5 percent from a year before.