From the February 2, 1994 edition of The New Castle Record
Virginia’s milk cow numbers continue to decline with an average of only 132,000 head on farms during 1993 according to the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service. This is 5,000 fewer milk cows than last year. Milk cow numbers have dropped by 40,000 head during the past ten years when there was an average of 172,000 milk cows in 1993.
However, gains in productivity per cow have nearly offset most of the decline in milk cow numbers. The average production per cow during 1993 was 15,072 pounds and compares with 14,956 pounds last year and 12,035 pounds per cow ten years ago. This is an increase in productivity of 25 percent, during the time when cow umbers dropped by 23 percent. Milk production in the commonwealth totaled two billion pounds during 1993, while last year’s production was 2.05 billion pounds and production ten years ago totaled 2.07 billion pounds.
Virginia’s December milk production totaled 168 million pounds, down nine million pounds from last December. At the U.S. level, milk production in the 21 major states during December totaled 10.4 billion pounds. Down from December 1992. Average production per cow for the 21 major states was 1,292 pounds, unchanged from December 1992. There were 8.06 million milk cows during December, 190,000 fewer than December 1992 in the major states.
During the October-December period, the 21 major states produced 30.8 billion pounds of milk, 84.0 percent of the U. S. production. If producers in the remaining 29 states not surveyed monthly followed the same pattern as the 21 states, the U. S. production would be 12.3 billion pounds for October, 11.9 billion pounds for November, and 12.4 billion pounds for December.
Virginia dairymen were feeding an average of 17.2 pounds of grain and other feed concentrated to milk cows on January 1, 1994. 1.3 pounds more than January 1993. The average value of grain and concentrates was $8.80 per hundredweight, unchanged from the value one year earlier. At the national level, grain and other concentrates fed to milk on January 1, 1994, averaged 18.5 pounds, 0.1 pounds more than January 1, 1993. The value of grain and other concentrates fed to cows on January 1 averaged $8.18 per hundredweight, 51 cents more than the price on January 1, 1993.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
