| Number of Milk Cattle, South Australia, '000 | ||||||||||||||
| Year | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 |
| Number | 271 | 244 | 237 | 252 | 261 | 269 | 264 | 265 | 259 | 248 | 240 | 248 | 274 | 280 |
| Year | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 |
| Number | 267 | 259 | 251 | 245 | 229 | 232 | 234 | 231 | 232 | 225 | 210 | 215 | 209 | 185 |
| Year | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 |
| Number | 169 | 160 | 157 | 160 | 158 | 158 | 161 | 163 | 162 | 157 | 153 | 145 | 139 | 134 |
| Year | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| Number | 137 | 142 | 147 | 152 | 150 | 157 | 162 | 177 | 189 | 192 | 180 | 191 | 188 | 160 |
| Year | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 1019 |
| Number | 164 | 169 | 161 | 165 | 139 | 143 | 127 | 129 | 135 | 127 | 135 | 127 | 127 | 100 |
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 | 2032 | 2033 |
| Number | 116 | 111 | 94 | 96 | 64 | na | na | na | na | na | na | na | na | na |
| Source: | ABS, | |||||||||||||
| 2024 The Australian Dairy Industrry, In Focus 2024, milking cows only | ||||||||||||||