USDA says November dairy products production was mostly below the October totals, but higher than year-ago levels.
Total cheese output was 1.22 billion pounds, 5.9% above 2024 but 3.4% below October. Italian cheeses totaled 526 million pounds and American style cheeses totaled 474 million pounds. The top cheese producing states are Wisconsin with 294.7 million pounds, followed by California with 202.8 million pounds, and Idaho with 84.8 million pounds.
U.S. butter production for November was 180 million pounds, up 2.2% from a year ago, but down 3.4% from the previous month. USDA statistics show California leads the nation in butter production with 49.3 million pounds in November. Pennsylvania is second with 5.3 million pounds.
Dry whey and lactose production was up slightly, and whey protein concentrate production rose 4.9% to 41.7 million pounds.
November regular hard ice cream production fell 2% and low-fat hard ice cream fell 5.2%. Frozen yogurt production was down 9.5% at 2.42 million gallons. Hard Sherbet production was 1.45 million gallons, up 10% on the year. California and Pennsylvania also lead the nation in ice cream production.
