Marketing - Dairy

1. The North Carolina dairy industry generated approximately one-half billion dollars in economic activity in 2006. 
2. North Carolina has 11 Grade A milk processing plants (8 large commercial fluid milk processors & 3 producer / processors), 1 large commercial cheese processing plant and several smaller homestead cheese operations.  North Carolina Class I plant milk production was approximately 107,126,655 gallons in 2005.
   
3. North Carolina farm milk production in 2005 was an estimated 118,860,000 gallons.
   
4. There were 321 commercial dairy farms in North Carolina as of Jan. 1, 2007.
   
5. In North Carolina, cash receipts for the sale of milk by dairy farmers amounted to $163 million in 2005.
   
6. The mailbox price paid to North Carolina dairy farmers was an estimated $13.41 per hundred weight or approximately $1.16 for each gallon of milk they produced in 2006.
   
7. In 2005, an estimated 54,000 cows were being milked commercially
   
8. Each dairy cow in North Carolina produced an average of 2,164 gallons of milk.
   
9. In North Carolina, about 64 percent of the milk produced in 2006 was used as Class I dairy products.
   
10. North Carolina dairy cows produced an average of 5.9 gallons of milk per day, or enough to make 5.1 pounds of cheese or 1.8 pounds of butter. To produce this much milk, a cow consumes 35 gallons of water, 20 pounds of grain and concentrated feeds and 70 pounds of corn silage.
    
11. The average daily expense per milking cow is about $9.90. It takes $3.60 to pay for feed, $1.60 for other livestock expenses and $.65 for crop related costs.  Employee pay, machinery cost and normal overhead expense is another $3.00 per day.  Depreciation of farm assets and interest on debt amounts to $1.05 per day.  An additional $1.85 per day is the estimated value of family labor, living expense and debt retirement.
    
12. In 2005, a dairy cow in North Carolina cost about $1,830. A typical North Carolina commercial dairy herd has approximately 160 cows.
    
13. Dairy ranks 11th among all North Carolina commodities for farm gate value.
    

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Read the North Carolina Dairy Strategic Plan "Dairy Advantage" Adobe Acrobat Required