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The dairy industry in the United States includes the farms, cooperatives, and companies that produce milk and cheese and related products, such as milking machines, and distribute them to the consumer. By 1925, the United States had 1.5-2 million dairy cows, each producing an average of 4200 lb of milk per year. By 2007, there were 9.1 million dairy cows but their average milk production was over 20,000 pounds per year, with eight pounds per gallon.[1]

History[edit]

European dairy practices varied from place to place, and immigrants to the United States would work together to import and improve on the best Europe traditions. One result was a variety of dairy practices across the United States.[2][3]


21st-century farms[edit]

Cow Milk Production by State in 2016

There are 40,200 dairy farms in the United States, down from 111,800 in 1995.[4] In 2017 the top five dairy states are, in order by total milk production; California, Wisconsin, New York, Idaho, and Texas.[5] Dairy farming remains important in Florida, Minnesota, Ohio and Vermont.[6]

Herd size in the US varies between 1,200 on the West Coast and Southwest, where large farms are commonplace, to roughly 50 in the Midwest and Northeast, where land-base is a significant limiting factor to herd size. The average herd size in the U.S. is about one hundred cows per farm but the median size is 900 cows with 49% of all cows residing on farms of 1000 or more cows.[7]

Production by state[edit]

Production of milk per state in 2019 was as follows:[8]

2019 production of milk
State Production

(million pounds)

Production (%)
Alabama 60 <0.1%
Alaska N/A N/A
Arizona 4,769 2.2%
Arkansas 67 0.0%
California 40,564 18.6%
Colorado 4,807 2.2%
Connecticut 428 0.2%
Delaware 74 <0.1%
Florida 2,346 1.1%
Georgia 1,771 0.8%
Hawaii N/A N/A
Idaho 15,631 7.2%
Illinois 1,748 0.8%
Indiana 4,073 1.9%
Iowa 5,291 2.4%
Kansas 3,819 1.7%
Kentucky 941 0.4%
Louisiana 135 0.1%
Maine 621 0.3%
Maryland 840 0.4%
Massachusetts 192 0.1%
Michigan 11,385 5.2%
Minnesota 9,931 4.5%
Mississippi 126 0.1%
Missouri 1,100 0.5%
Montana 259 0.1%
Nebraska 1,409 0.6%
Nevada 762 0.3%
New Hampshire 238 0.1%
New Jersey 100 0.0%
New Mexico 8,187 3.7%
New York 15,122 6.9%
North Carolina 902 0.4%
North Dakota 326 0.1%
Ohio 5,425 2.5%
Oklahoma 731 0.3%
Oregon 2,592 1.2%
Pennsylvania 10,108 4.6%
Rhode Island 10.6 <0.1%
South Carolina 206 0.1%
South Dakota 2,810 1.3%
Tennessee 551 0.3%
Texas 13,850 6.3%
Utah 2,262 1.0%
Vermont 2,697 1.2%
Virginia 1,490 0.7%
Washington 6,783 3.1%
West Virginia 90 <0.1%
Wisconsin 30,601 14.0%
Wyoming 146.6 0.1%
Sum 218,382 100%

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Alice C. Richer, "Dairy Industry" in Historical Encyclopedia of American Business, edited by Richard L Wilson (2009) pp:215–218.
  2. ^ T. V. Selleck, "The Dutch Immigrants of Southern California and the Dairy Industry, 1920-1960." European contributions to American studies 64 (2006): 187+
  3. ^ Steven J. Keillor, "Agricultural change and crosscultural exchange: Danes, Americans, and dairying, 1880-1930." Agricultural History 67#4 (1993), p. 58+ online
  4. ^ See Hoard's Dairyman February 26, 2018
  5. ^ "You are being redirected..." www.dairybusiness.com.
  6. ^ "Facts and Figures". Dairy Farming Today. 2010. Archived from the original on 27 May 2008. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  7. ^ MacDonald, James; Newton, Doris (1 December 2014). "Milk Production Continues Shifting to Large-Scale Farms". Amber Waves. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  8. ^ "USDA" (PDF). Retrieved 16 December 2020.

Further reading[edit]

  • Apps, Jerry. Cheese: The making of a Wisconsin tradition (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004).
  • Bailey, Kenneth W. Marketing and pricing of milk and dairy products in the United States (Iowa State University Press, 1997).
  • Blayney, Don P. "The Changing Landscape of U.S. Milk Production" (USDA, 2002) online
  • Bowen, Sarah, and Kathryn De Master. "Wisconsin’s 'Happy Cows'? Articulating heritage and territory as new dimensions of locality." Agriculture and Human Values 31.4 (2014): 549-562. online
  • Cardoso, Clarissa S., et al. "Imagining the ideal dairy farm." Journal of Dairy Science 99.2 (2016): 1663-1671. online
  • Dillon, John J. Seven Decades of Milk - A History of New York's Dairy Industry (2010)
  • DuPuis, E. Melanie. Nature's perfect food: How milk became America's drink (NYU Press, 2002). complete text online
  • Fuquay, John W. ed. Encyclopedia of Dairy Sciences (2nd Edition, 4 vol 2011), comprehensive coverage
  • Janus, Edward. Creating Dairyland: How caring for cows saved our soil, created our landscape, brought prosperity to our state, and still shapes our way of life in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Historical Society, 2011).
  • Keillor, Steven J. "Agricultural change and crosscultural exchange: Danes, Americans, and dairying, 1880-1930." Agricultural History 67#4 (1993), p. 58+ online
  • Khosrova, Elaine. Butter: A Rich History (2016) excerpt
  • Kurlansky, Mark. Milk: A 10,000-Year History (2019) excerpt
  • McMurry, Sally. Transforming rural life: Dairying families and agricultural change, 1820-1885 (Johns Hopkins UP, 1995).
  • Porter, John. The History and Economics of the New Hampshire Dairy Industry (University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service, 2007).
  • Doug Reinemann (July 18, 2018). "Milking Machines:The First 100 Years". pbswisconsin.org. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  • Steele, Catherine Baumgarten. "The Steele Brothers: Pioneers in California's Great Dairy Industry." California Historical Quarterly 20.3 (1941): 259-273. online Archived 2022-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
  • Switzer, Robert L. A Family Farm: Life on an Illinois Dairy Farm (2012)
  • Valenze, Deborah. Milk: A Local and Global History (2011) excerpt
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_industry_in_the_United_States