Austrian cow milk output up
The production of cow and sheep raw milk in Austria increased last year, while there was a decline in goat’s milk, according to Statistics Austria.
With an annual output average of 6,500 kg per head (+ 1.3%), around 534,000 dairy cows (+ 1.7%) produced almost 3.5 million tons of raw milk (+ 3%) in 2014. Around 3,062,000 tons (+ 4.4%) went directly on processing and production establishments. The rest was, apart from a slight loss, used at the farms: 277,000 tons (7.9%) were used as feed for calves or other domestic animals, and 120,000 tons (3.4%) went directly or in processed form from the farm to human nutrition.
Austria’s 25,800 milking sheep (+ 0.7%) gave an average annual milk production of 435 kg (+ 1.4%) per animal, which resulted in a total of 11,200 tons of raw milk (+ 2.2%). Of these 8,200 tons, or 73.1%, were used in human diet. Another 2,900 tons (25.9%) was used for other purposes.
The number of dairy goats fell last year by 2.4% to 31,200 animals. With an annual average of 635 kg per animal (-1.2%), a total of 19,800 tons of raw milk (-3.7%) was produced. Of this 16,700 tons (84.4%) went to humans.
