Some of the recent posts to this site covered the growth in dairy. Three of these are listed below.
How the Medical Community is Helping the Dairy Industry Grow
Is It a Good Year for Dairy? YES!
This post will cover the growth in milk production through the third quarter of 2025. The growth is huge. The post will also cover where in the U.S. the growth is occurring. The data in this post is based on 12-month moving averages to avoid seasonal fluctuations.
In the third quarter the growth in milk production was very strong, increasing by 220 million pounds per month reaching a level of 19,086 million pounds. That is an increase of 1.5% in the first nine months of 2025.
Below is the growth (or decline) of the five largest dairy producing states. California is the largest dairy state. Production of milk fell by 5% in 2023 and 2024 and the first half of 2025. That is a decrease of 182 million pounds per month. In the third quarter of 2025 there has been some growth (32 million pounds).
Wisconsin is the second largest dairy state. There has been no growth in 2025 (Chart III). The two largest dairy states, California and Wisconsin have contributed very little to the U.S. growth in milk production.
Texas has seen a huge increase in milk production over the five years in Chart IV. The increase over five years is 259 million pounds per month which is 21%! In the first three quarters of 2025 milk production has grown by 5%. The growth in milk production has made Texas the third largest dairy state in the U.S.
The growth in Idaho milk production in 2025 is 5% which amounts to 66 million pounds of milk per month (Chart IV).
Milk production in New York has a steady growth of over 1% annually. In 2025 that growth accelerated to 1.6%.
Other states showing big changes are Kansas with an 11% increase (37 million pounds per month) and South Dekota which grew by 7% (28 million pounds per month) in the first three quarters of 2025. Michigan increased milk volume by 2% (20 million pounds per month).
The states that are not included in the top 24 states continue to decrease their milk production with a loss of 28 million pounds per month in 2025 YTD.
The flexibility in production of milk in the U.S. is amazing. It reflects the best of capitalization. Some countries believe in supporting the process of “preserving the way of life”. The U.S. is built on capitalization which assures that supply is meet with demand and is fast, effective, and economic.
The trend of increasing U.S. milk production will likely continue in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Upcoming posts will cover trends in the cow count and milk per cow.
