Over the holidays, we will be sharing some of our most-viewed blogs of 2012. If you missed them earlier, we've got them ready to close out 2012.

For back-to-back years, U.S. milk output rose by a remarkably uniform 1.8 percent.

by Corey Geiger, Assistant Managing Editor

The twin combo of more milk per cow and a larger dairy herd pushed up milk production last year. When looking at the year-end statistics released by USDA, cow numbers went up 75,000-head or 0.8 percent while milk per cow rose 196 pounds or 0.9 percent. This is a sharp contrast to 2010 when national gains in milk production fell solely on improved milk per cow.