Milk cows on 1 January
Cows that have calved and are kept for milk production, on farms on 1 January, in head, as estimated by USDA NASS in its January Cattle report. Dry cows are included; heifers that have not calved are not.
NASS also publishes an annual average number of milk cows with its milk production estimates; this series is the 1 January count. USDA NASS survey estimates for the nation and the states; the District of Columbia is not covered, and states that NASS groups as "other states" to avoid disclosing single operations have no value for that year. NASS revises recent years when it publishes later reports, and values it withholds are left out.
Key facts
- Milk cows on 1 January in the United States was 9,568,300 head in 2026, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service.
- California had the highest milk cows on 1 January of 50 states in 2024, at 1,710,000 head, and Alaska the lowest, at 200 head. Source: the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service.
- Published for 51 places, with figures from 1950 to 2026.
Rankings
US states by milk cows on 1 January, 2024
Places with data
Countries
Regions and states
- California
- Texas
- Florida
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Illinois
- Ohio
- Georgia
- North Carolina
- Michigan
- Delaware
- Arkansas
- Idaho
- Arizona
- Hawaii
- Alabama
Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Which places have the highest milk cows on 1 January? Use official data and cite it.
rank_places {"indicator":"milk_cows_inventory","level":"region","within":"United States"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=milk_cows_inventory&level=region&within=United%20States