US milk production expanded 4.6% in May according to the USDA. That followed a 3.5% YOY growth in April. The milking herd continued to expand, reaching a multi-decade high of 9.505m cows in May, a gain of 5,000 head from the previous month and 145,000 higher YOY. That month-on-month growth in cow numbers was significantly smaller than the 26,000 head expansion in April. The YOY growth in average yield per cow for May was 3%, an 80-month high. May was the twelfth consecutive month of expansion in US milk output.

Wisconsin, California and Texas jointly accounted for 52% of the national YOY milk growth in May (down from 57% in April), increasing by 5.6%, 5.0% and 10.8% respectively. There were also strong YOY gains in Colorado (5.3%), Minnesota (6%), Indiana (12.6%), South Dakota (14.6%), New York (4.2%) and Michigan (5.1%).