MADISON, Wis (WSAU) - Wisconsin’s milk production grew by a faster rate than the nation as a whole last month.

According to new government figures, Wisconsin dairy cows made just over two-and-a-third billion pounds of milk in May. That’s two-point-four percent more than the same month a year ago. The national increase was two-percent. The 23 major dairy states made two-point-one-percent more. California, the nation’s top producer, had an increase of one-point-nine percent. And Wisconsin’s increase beat them all. California made three-point-seven billion pounds of milk last month. Wisconsin was second, followed by Idaho, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Wisconsin’s dairy herd grew by five-thousand last month, to just over one-and-a-quarter million cows. The state’s production per cow increased by 35 pounds, to just over 18-hundred.