Top States for Number of Dairy Goats
More than 57 percent of dairy goats are produced in the top 10 states in number of dairy goats (Table 8). Most of the dairy goat producing states are located in the Midwest (Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri and Indiana), the Northeast (New York, Pennsylvania and New England) and the South (Texas). Wisconsin, with a 27-percent increase in the number of dairy goats from the 2002 USDA Census, leads the nation in the number of dairy goats — the position held by California in 2002. Iowa, with more than a 220-percent increase in dairy goat numbers, surpassed Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Missouri, and claimed fourth place in the nation in the number of dairy goats.
Table 8. U.S. top 10 states for numbers of dairy goats in 2007*
| Dairy Goats | % of Total | % of 2002 | |
| U.S. | 305,000 | 100 | 105 |
| Wisconsin | 33,000 | 10.8 | 127 |
| California | 30,000 | 9.8 | 80 |
| Texas | 25,000 | 8.2 | 111 |
| Iowa | 19,000 | 6.2 | 223 |
| Pennsylvania | 13,800 | 4.3 | 103 |
| New York | 13,000 | 4.3 | 101 |
| Missouri | 13,000 | 4.3 | 153 |
| New England (1) | 11,600 | 3.8 | 165 |
| Ohio | 9,200 | 3.2 | 64 |
| Indiana | 9,100 | 2.9 | 121 |
1 CT, ME, NH, RI, VT
- Reflects the 2007 USDA-NASS sample data.