Dairy farm numbers drop 4 percent

The number of operations with at least one dairy cow stands at 67,000, a decline of 4 percent from 2007. This number was just released as part of USDA NASS' annual summary: Farms, Land in Farms, and Livestock Operations.
The number of farms with milk cows is different than the number of licensed or "commercial" dairy farms which we will report in our March 10, 2009, issue.

The recent USDA report estimates that there were 21,705 operations with between 1 and 29 cows; 12,270 with between 30 and 49 cows; 19,330 with between 50 and 99 cows; 9,011 with between 100 and 199 cows; 4,359 with between 200 and 499 cows; and 3,320 operations with more than 500 cows.
More than half of the cows in the U.S. –51.9 percent– are in herds with 500 cows or more. Those cows produce 57 percent of the U.S. milk supply.

The USDA estimates there are 2.2 million farms in the U.S. In addition to 67,000 with dairy cows, 757,000 have beef cows (more than 90 percent quite small), and 73,150 have some swine.