New York milk production rises nearly 4 percent in April

New York dairy farms produced 1.27 billion pounds of milk in April, up 3.9 percent from the year-ago period, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported.

Production per cow in the state averaged 2,030 pounds in April, up more than 3 percent from 1,965 pounds a year prior.

The number of milk cows on farms in New York state totaled 623,000 head in April, up 3,000 head from April 2016, NASS reported.

The average milk price received by New York dairy farmers in March 2017 was $18.60 per hundredweight, down 50 cents from February, but up $2.40 from a year ago.

In neighboring Pennsylvania, dairy farms produced 948 million pounds of milk in April, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier.