Dairy farmers in Wis., Minn. have strong month

Dairy farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota continue to outpace last year's levels of milk production.

Wisconsin produced 2.2 billion pounds of milk last month. That was up 109 million pounds from the same month last year.

The 5 percent rise ties Michigan for the largest rate of increase in the nation over that period.

Minnesota had a more moderate increase. Dairy farmers there produced 780 million pounds, up 2 percent.

Total production nationwide rose a moderate 3 percent for the 23 major milk-producing states. That translates to a total yield of 15.2 billion pounds.

California remains the nation's leader ahead of No. 2 Wisconsin. California dairy farmers produced 3.4 billion pounds of milk for an increase of 3 percent.

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Online: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service: http://www.nass.usda.gov/

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