Wisconsin Dairy Farms Decrease by a Tenth in 2019
Monday, January 6th, 2020 -- 9:33 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -Another year of low milk prices brought the total number of dairy operations in Wisconsin down by a tenth in 2019.According to the state's agriculture department, there were 7,292 herds milking during the first week of January. That's a drop of 818 since the same time a year earlier. In comparison, America's Dairyland lost 691 herds during 2018, and 503 in 2017. Clark County continues to hold the highest number of herds in the state with 729, followed by Marathon County with 438. Milwaukee County registered just one herd as of January 1, with Forest, Florence and Oneida Counties each losing their remaining dairy farms during the past year.
Despite having less herds, the state's remaining dairy operations are still milking over 1.28 million head of cows and producing a record amount of milk. DATCP records show that 90 percent of state dairy operations are Grade A certified, with 10 percent licensed as Grade B. Wisconsin has been keeping track of dairy farm numbers since 1950. At that time, the state had 143,000 dairy operations and accounted for about four percent of the nation's total dairy farms.
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