Our Industry

At a glance

Dairy farming in Manitoba (as of January 2022)

Number of dairy farms	249
Average milking herd size	190 cows
Number of milking cows	47,000
Total amount of milk produced in the 2021-22 dairy year	418.7 million litres
Number of dairy processing plants	12

Supply management

Dairy farmers in the province – and across the country – operate under the supply management model. This model enables dairy farmers to carefully match the supply of milk they produce to meet the needs of Canadians.

Supply management keeps your milk local – and it benefits farmers, government, processors, and consumers. Dairy farmers receive a fair and stable price for their milk and rely on the market to make a living – without depending on government subsidies for milk production. Processors receive a steady supply of high quality milk at a fair price to manufacture into dairy products. And Canadians have access to a wide variety of high quality dairy products at reasonable and stable prices.

Dairy farms across the country support our Canadian economy and local communities by providing 221,000 jobs and contributing $19.9 billion to Canada’s GDP.