Farm numbers fall just 3.8 percent to 54,952

Despite low milk prices and rising costs, the majority of dairy producers continued to milk cows last year. What remains to be seen is how the recent depressed economic conditions, both on the income and expense side of the ledger, will affect long-term dairy farm numbers.

For the moment, last year’s 2,185 drop in dairy operations with permits to sell milk represents the second smallest drop in actual numbers. It was last year’s drop of 2,003 dairy farms that set the low mark for losses since milk permit tracking began in 1992. On a percentage basis, dairy farm numbers dropped only 3.8 percent from the previous year. That’s the fourth-smallest-ever percentage drop since count began.

Since 1992, the drop in licensed or so-called commercial dairy farms has been 76,567, from 131,509 to 2009s 54,942. That’s a drop of 58 percent during that time. The farms counted in this survey are those that have a permit to sell milk. This number differs from another USDA estimate . . . operations with milk cows. That total now is 65,000 and has declined 103,500 or 61.9 percent since 1992.

For only the second time since the survey began, the West led all regions for the largest share of farms losses at 5 percent. With the West’s higher than usual losses, it was the first time since 2002 that the Southeast didn’t lead the nation in dairy farm losses. Since 1992, however, the Southeast’s operations fell from 12,057 to 3,845 . . . a drop of 8,212 or 68 percent.

For a full report, check out page 167 of the March 10 issue which will be in the mail shortly.

MilkProd-02-19-2010-1.pdf

Fewer dairies quit milking last year

Relatively strong milk pricing in late 2007 and throughout the ensuing year encouraged many dairy producers to remain in business, so much so that only 3.4 percent or 2,003 dairy farms idled milk pumps last year. That represents the smallest percentage decline in dairy farm numbers and the lowest ever actual drop since milk permit tracking began in 1992. The 2,470 farms leaving the industry in 2005 was the second lowest actual drop in numbers and ties 2005 with the smallest percentage drop ever at 3.4.

Since 1992, the drop in licensed or so-called commercial dairy farms has been 74,382, from 131,509 to 57,127. That’s a drop of 57 percent during that time. The farms counted in this survey are those that have a permit to sell milk. This number differs from another USDA estimate . . . operations with milk cows. That total now is 67,000 and has declined 103,500 or 60.7 percent since 1992.

Among states with over 1,000 dairy operations in 2007, the largest percentage decline took place in Illinois (-9.4). That state lost 100 farms and now is under 1,000 permitted farms, leaving 12 states above that threshold. Kentucky (-5.4), Iowa (-5.2), Pennsylvania (-4.2), and Minnesota (-4.0) rounded out the largest decliners. Among 1,000-plus operation states, two states had small gains in farm numbers: Missouri 2.3 and Indiana 0.6 percent.

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.