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

Wisconsin dairy farmers harvested 2.3 billion pounds of milk last month. That was 5 percent better than in August of last year.

And in Minnesota, production totaled 753 million pounds, a 3 percent improvement.

California is easily the nation's top milk-producing state, but No. 2 Wisconsin is closing the gap. In August 2011, California produced 59 percent more milk than Wisconsin did. Last month, California's margin was down to 43 percent.

California dairy farmers harvested 3.3 billion pounds of milk last month. That was a 6 percent decrease.

Overall, milk production nationwide remained about constant at 15.3 billion pounds.

Copyright 2012 The AP.