Data / Milk cows on 1 January / United States

Milk cows on 1 January in United States

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. That is up 2% from 2025.

2026, head9,568,300
Change on 2025+2%
Series high23,896,0001954
Series low8,987,5002004

Next release: Saturday, 30 January 2027, estimated by Invokely from past publication dates (low confidence), not announced by the publisher. Release calendar

Get an email when a new figure is out or this one is revised.
Keep it in a collection in your library.

Milk cows on 1 January in United States, 1950 to 2026

5M10M15M20M25M195019611972198319942005201620261950: 23,853,000 head1951: 23,568,000 head1952: 23,060,000 head1953: 23,549,000 head1954: 23,896,000 head1955: 23,462,000 head1956: 22,912,000 head1957: 22,325,000 head1958: 21,265,000 head1959: 20,132,000 head1960: 19,527,000 head1961: 19,270,800 head1962: 18,963,200 head1963: 18,378,900 head1964: 17,646,800 head1965: 16,980,600 head1966: 15,973,400 head1967: 15,129,100 head1968: 14,456,000 head1969: 13,820,900 head1970: 12,090,700 head1971: 11,908,600 head1972: 11,775,600 head1973: 11,621,700 head1974: 11,296,700 head1975: 11,219,600 head1976: 11,070,600 head1977: 10,997,500 head1978: 10,896,400 head1979: 10,790,000 head1980: 10,758,200 head1981: 10,849,000 head1982: 10,985,900 head1983: 11,046,800 head1984: 11,058,700 head1985: 10,776,900 head1986: 11,115,500 head1987: 10,466,400 head1988: 10,311,200 head1989: 10,137,500 head1990: 10,014,800 head1991: 9,965,600 head1992: 9,728,200 head1993: 9,658,100 head1994: 9,507,000 head1995: 9,481,800 head1996: 9,419,900 head1997: 9,317,900 head1998: 9,199,000 head1999: 9,128,000 head2000: 9,182,800 head2001: 9,171,700 head2002: 9,105,600 head2003: 9,141,700 head2004: 8,987,500 head2005: 9,003,500 head2006: 9,103,900 head2007: 9,144,500 head2008: 9,257,000 head2009: 9,332,800 head2010: 9,086,500 head2011: 9,155,600 head2012: 9,235,500 head2013: 9,221,200 head2014: 9,208,600 head2015: 9,311,900 head2016: 9,312,400 head2017: 9,368,500 head2018: 9,432,100 head2019: 9,353,400 head2020: 9,343,600 head2021: 9,450,400 head2022: 9,381,000 head2023: 9,397,500 head2024: 9,346,800 head2025: 9,380,800 head2026: 9,568,300 head5M10M15M20M25M19501976200220262026: 9,568,300 head
head. Source: USDA NASS, Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states. Retrieved 2026-10-18, published 2026-01-30.
All 77 values
Periodhead
20269,568,300
20259,380,800
20249,346,800
20239,397,500
20229,381,000
20219,450,400
20209,343,600
20199,353,400
20189,432,100
20179,368,500
20169,312,400
20159,311,900
20149,208,600
20139,221,200
20129,235,500
20119,155,600
20109,086,500
20099,332,800
20089,257,000
20079,144,500
20069,103,900
20059,003,500
20048,987,500
20039,141,700
20029,105,600
20019,171,700
20009,182,800
19999,128,000
19989,199,000
19979,317,900
19969,419,900
19959,481,800
19949,507,000
19939,658,100
19929,728,200
19919,965,600
199010,014,800
198910,137,500
198810,311,200
198710,466,400
198611,115,500
198510,776,900
198411,058,700
198311,046,800
198210,985,900
198110,849,000
198010,758,200
197910,790,000
197810,896,400
197710,997,500
197611,070,600
197511,219,600
197411,296,700
197311,621,700
197211,775,600
197111,908,600
197012,090,700
196913,820,900
196814,456,000
196715,129,100
196615,973,400
196516,980,600
196417,646,800
196318,378,900
196218,963,200
196119,270,800
196019,527,000
195920,132,000
195821,265,000
195722,325,000
195622,912,000
195523,462,000
195423,896,000
195323,549,000
195223,060,000
195123,568,000
195023,853,000

Rankings

Definition

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.

Report a problem with this figure

How to cite

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Quick Stats. Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states. https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. (2026). Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states (Milk cows on 1 January, United States, 1950 to 2026) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/

MLA 9

Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states, Milk cows on 1 January, United States, 1950 to 2026. U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 30 Jan. 2026, https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/milk-cows/united-states. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. 2026. Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states. Milk cows on 1 January, United States, 1950 to 2026. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/milk-cows/united-states.

Harvard

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (2026) Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states, Milk cows on 1 January, United States, 1950 to 2026 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/milk-cows/united-states (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{department_milk_cows_on_1_2026,
  author = {{U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service}},
  title = {{Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states: Milk cows on 1 January, United States, 1950 to 2026}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/milk-cows/united-states. Publisher attribution: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Quick Stats. Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states. https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-18.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service
TI  - Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states: Milk cows on 1 January, United States, 1950 to 2026
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/01/30
PB  - U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/milk-cows/united-states
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/milk-cows/united-states.
N1  - Publisher attribution: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Quick Stats. Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states. https://www.nass.usda.gov/datasets/. Retrieved 2026-10-18.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

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:

What is the latest milk cows on 1 January in United States? Cite the source.
get_value {"indicator":"milk_cows_inventory","place":"us"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/value?indicator=milk_cows_inventory&place=us

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

What is the milk cows on 1 January in United States?

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. That is up 2% from 2025.

Where does this figure come from?

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Quick Stats, CATTLE, COWS, MILK - INVENTORY, first of January, survey, nation and states. Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-18.

What was the highest milk cows on 1 January in United States?

23,896,000 head in 1954, the highest value since 1950 in this series.

Related statistics for United States

All statistics for United States | United States in figures