Southern states suffer big losses in July's milk production report.

The July 2023 USDA Milk Production report spotlighted difficult conditions in the Southwest and California. The report showed a 0.6 percent decrease in year-over-year milk production with a total of 18.3 billion lbs. of milk. This was the first year-over-year decline since June 2022. Cow numbers also dropped by 13,000 year-over-year, down 3,000 head from last month.

Phil Plourd, president of Ever.Ag Insights, says that Texas and New Mexico output suffered. Miserable weather, especially in the Texas Panhandle, poor economic performance and the tragic explosion in April...