(Image Source: Jakob Cotton / Unsplash)
June 2023
Wisconsin hasn’t always been synonymous with dairy. Cash crops, wheat in particular, required less upfront investment than dairy, making crop farming more attractive to 19th century immigrants who needed to quickly settle and raise a crop before winter set in. Wisconsin might have been called “America’s Wheatland,” if wheat rust disease and chinch bugs had not worked hand-in-hand with depleted soil and volatile wheat markets to make wheat farming less profitable.
As wheat became less sustainable, some farmers turned to other cash crops, such as potatoes and cranberries, while others began dairy farming. A statewide network around dairy farming, in particular, began to form in order to create a more resilient and diverse agricultural base within the state.
In 1885 William Hoard launched Hoard’s Dairyman, which remains the leading industry publication. In 1899, Professor Stephen Moulton Babcock invented the Babcock butterfat test, and then went on to work with Harry L. Russell to develop a cold-curing process for ripening cheese, which allowed cheesemaking to flourish. In 1912 UW Extension hired its first agricultural agents as a means to quickly move research into the field.
The combination of cutting-edge dairy science, a media channel to communicate the latest in dairy farm management, and Extension agents to provide technical assistance directly to farmers, helped Wisconsin become a market and scientific leader in dairy. By the time the legislature emblazoned “America’s Dairyland” on license plates in 1940, we had truly earned the title.
That brings us to today’s question. As of April 2023, Wisconsin had 1,268,000 dairy cows. These cows, spread amongst one of 6,033 herds and 6,350 farms, each produced roughly 8.1 gallons of milk per day. If the U.S. produced 226.5 billion pounds of milk in 2022, how many pounds of milk did Wisconsin produce?
A. 45.4 billion pounds
B. 35 billion pounds
C. 20 billion pounds
D. 31.9 billion pounds
E. 27.1 billion pounds
ANSWERS
Answer: D. Wisconsin produced 31.9 billion pounds of milk in 2022. This is 14.1% of total U.S. milk production in 2022, which is a slight increase from 2021.
