June is Dairy Month

Person County 4-H is celebrating the fact that June is Dairy Month. A couple of interesting facts about the dairy industry include:

- North Carolina ranked 31st in milk production, 31st in number of milk cows, 20th in milk output per cow and 23rd in number of licensed dairy operations during 2009 in the United States.

- Each dairy cow in North produced an average of 2,339 gallons milk in 2009.

- Total amount of milk produced in the state during 2009 amounted 105.24 million gallons (or 884 million pounds of milk).

- In 2009, North Carolina dairy cows produced enough milk to make 5.44 pounds of cheese or 2.56 pounds of butter.

- To produce this much milk, an average cow consumes 50 gallons of water, 20 pounds of grain and feed concentrates and 55 pounds of corn silage.

McKayla Chambers, Woodland Lakers 4-H Club member, entered a poster into the Southeast United Dairy Industry Association for the Dairy Makes Cents poster contest. To vote for a winner, go online to http://southeastdairy.org/file/jdm/posters/index.html .