Welcome to You Ask Andy

Tammy Elmore age 13, of Portland, Ore., for her question:

HOW MUCH MILK DOES A COW GIVE EACH YEAR?

Dairy farmers are constantly increasing the milk production of their herds by improved methods of breeding, feeding and managing dairy cattle. There are more than 11 million milk cows on farms in the United States today and they produce more than 115 billion pounds of milk each year and almost 5 billion pounds of butterfat.

The average yearly milk production per cow is about 10,500 pounds, an increase of more than 2,000 pounds per cow since the 1960s. Butterfat production per cow during this period has increased from about 300 pounds to almost 400 pounds.

Many of the better dairy herds average about 15,000 pounds of milk per cow every year. One Holstein cow produced more than 44,000 pounds of milk and 1,505 pounds of butterfat in one year. This is the world's record. The cow produced an average of about 60 quarts of milk each day.

Every person in the United States consumes an average of 550 pounds of dairy products every year. Dairy goods account for 14 cents of each dollar most families spend for food. These items make up their second largest food expense, ranking behind only the combined expenses for meat, fish, poultry and eggs.

Fluid milk and cream make up about half of the dairy goods used in the country, and butter accounts for about a fifth. The remainder includes cheese, ice cream, evaporated and condensed milk and dried skim milk.

There is some dairy farming in every state, but the industry is concentrated in a group of states running from New York and Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Wisconsin leads the states in milk production. California is also a leading dairy state.

Most dairy farms are near large cities. But with today's processing equipment and refrigerated tank trucks, dairymen can also ship milk long distances easily and safely.

The average size of United States dairy herds is about 25 cows. Some dairies have more than 1,000 cows.

Milking is usually done at regular times, once each morning and once each evening. On a good dairy farm, the cows are carefully brushed and washed before them are milked. This keeps the milk clean.

Many farmers who own only a few cows do their milking by hand. But most of the milk marketed as Grade A fluid milk comes from larger dairy farms that use milking machines.

On many farms, the milk is pumped directly from the cow through a glass pipeline into a separate milk house where it is cooled immediately. The milk may also be pumped into a closed pail and carried to a milk house for cooling. The milk's flavor is improved if it is not exposed to the air in the barn.

The milking machines and pipelines are washed and sterilized after each milking.

A good dairy cow may weigh up to 1,700 pounds. In order to produce something like 12,000 pounds or more of milk during a year, the cow must eat large amounts of concentrates, which are grains and by product feeds, and roughages, which include pasture, hay and silage.

A large cow eats about 15 pounds of grain each day and drinks about eight gallons of water daily.

 

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