Serving the dairy industry is a big undertaking for animal health pros. The 2017 USDA Ag Census reported data on scores of ag statistics, including dairy cow inventory by county. For the first time, it included data on dairies with more than 5,000 cows.
California and Idaho are tied with the most dairies with more than 5,000 cows. Texas has 25. Wisconsin and Minnesota rank 9th and 8th, respectively. For information on counties with the most dairy cows total, click here < link >.
Source: Milk, August 12, 2019. Link. California dominates the list, with four of the top five counties and six of the top 10. Wisconsin, which has 12 of the top 25 counties in terms of the number of dairies, has 4 of the top 25 by cow numbers.
INSIGHTS: Looking at the 3 maps indicating states by diary size, one would expect to see a trend toward “go big or get out.” However, dairies with fewer than 1,500 head are not listed.
Also see: 68.2 percent fewer dairies since 1992. Animal Health Digest, March 22, 2017. Link.