Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2012 --- 6:35 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Milk production continues to improve in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where dairy farmers had a stronger April this year than they did last year.

Wisconsin harvested 2.3 billion pounds last month. That's up 4 percent from the total yield in April 2011.

And in Minnesota, production totaled 770 million pounds, a 1 percent improvement.

The overall dairy yield improved in 22 of the 23 major milk-producing states in the nation. Pennsylvania had a 1 percent decrease, in part because there were 5,000 fewer cows. National output was 16.0 billion pounds, an increase of 3 percent.

Wisconsin remains firmly entrenched as the nation's second-leading producer, and Minnesota remains in 7th place. As usual, California led the way with 3.6 billion pounds of milk.

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.