Milk production has slowed across much of the country. The combination of hot weather and typical seasonal declines is slowing availability of manufacturing milk.

Milk production across the nation is trending higher along the seasonal trend, according to the USDA's Dairy Market News report for the week ended Jan. 17. Improved weather conditions in most regions of the country have been beneficial to milk production, especially in the Upper Midwest and Northeast, where temperatures have returned towards their seasonal norms. 

USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service will provide an estimate of U.S. milk production each month through September, 2013, which is the end of Federal Fiscal Year 2013. The agency will use only various sources of administrative data to establish the monthly milk production estimates rather than incorporating information from the two remaining quarterly producer surveys, as is presently done. 

 JBT FoodTech will supply an automated batch retort system to sterilize various dairy-based drink products.  The retort system will allow O-AT-KA to process a wide range of products and processes at optimal performance and efficiency.

Milk production in the 23 major milk-producing states during December totaled 15.4 billion pounds, up 2.7% from December 2010,