The University of  Arizona
Arizona Dairy Extension
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Arizona Dairy Demographics for 2006

U.S. dairy producers set historic records for total milk production and milk produced per cow in 2006. A recent USDA long-term projection report predicts that through 2016 the number of milk cows in the U.S. will continue to decrease while milk production per cow will increase. In 2006, Arizona ranked:

  • 2nd - Average herd size in 2006
    1,331 cows per dairy
  • 3rd - Average pounds of milk produced per cow
    22,855 milk lbs/cow
  • 13th - Total milk production
    Arizona produced an estimated 3,954,000,000 pounds of milk. This was a 5.7% increase over 2005.
  • 13th - Total number of cows
    Approximately 173,000 head
  • 38th - Number of licensed herds
    130 licensed dairy herds.
*All data used was from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

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