Dairy cattle hooked up to milking machines.
Photo Courtesy of the United States Department of Agriculture. Photo by Keith Weller.
Dairy Farming in the United States
The major dairy farming states are California, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Consolidating small dairy farms to create large dairy operations is a major trend in dairy farming. As in agricultural farming, the number of dairy farms is decreasing, but the size of dairy farms is increasing. Dairy farmers, with the help of special feeds and breeding programs, continue to get more milk per cow. In February 2003, milk production per cow averaged 1,485 pounds and was a 13-pound increase from 2002. Click on CHARTS and MAPS below for additional information about dairy farming.
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