Description: This chart shows the importance of major dairy regions in the U.S. for 1999. The Traditional Dairy Belt (which includes Wisconsin) has the largest share of dairy farms, dairy cows, and milk production of any region. Although over half of all dairy farms are in the Traditional Dairy Belt, smaller average herd sizes and lower productivity combine such that these states produce roughly 40 percent of total U.S. milk By contrast, the Industrial Dairy States contain less than 10 percent of all dairy farms, but are collectively the second leading dairy region in terms of dairy cow numbers and total milk produced.

Source: The data come from published statistics compiled by the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service (WASS), a division of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Most data are available in an annual WASS publication titled "Dairy Facts". For more recent data, visit their web site at: http://www.nass.usda.gov/wi/.