On Thursday, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its estimates for October dairy product production in the U.S.

Total cheese output, excluding cottage cheese, in October was 896 million pounds. This is up 1.7 percent from October 2010 (881 million pounds) and 3.3 percent over September 2011 totals (867 million pounds). Italian-type cheese accounted for 382 million pounds of total production, up 2.3 percent over last October and 3.7 percent above September. Over three quarters of the Italian total is attributed to Mozzarella production, totaling 296 million pounds in October, a 3.4 percent jump over September production. American-type cheese production totaled 352 million pounds, down 1.2 percent from last year but 4 percent above September totals.

In October, Wisconsin (221 million pounds) and California (189.7 million pounds) had the highest cheese production totals. South Dakota had the strongest production gains over last year with a 12 percent surge in production. Illinois saw a 20.6 percent drop in production in the past year.

Butter production boasted the most significant gains over last year. Production, totaling 146 million pounds, was up 19.6 percent over last October. The total was 6.4 percent above September production. Of this total, California accounted for 50.1 million pounds of total butter production, a 10.1 percent jump over September.

While total yogurt production rose 7.6 percent compared to the same month last year, it is down 11.5 percent from this September. Production totaled 346 million pounds in October, while September production was 391 million pounds.

Frozen products compared to a year ago also saw gains. With 60.5 million gallons, hard ice cream production was up 2.1 percent, while low-fat ice cream was up 10.9 percent.

Skim milk powder production compared to last month was up 139.6 percent to 42 million pounds.