January 13, 2021: Dairy Week In Review

Feed prices jumped this week with the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report showing dramatically reduced supplies of both corn and beans. Corn production estimates were cut by 324 million bushels to 14.182 billion, with an average yield drop of 3.8 bushels per acre. Projected corn use was also cut by 250 million…

January 6, 2021: Dairy Week In Review

USDA announced the December 2020 Class III milk price at $15.72 per hundredweight, down $7.62 from November’s price and $3.64 below year ago levels. Class III prices averaged $18.16 per cwt. in 2020, up $1.20 from 2019’s average price. The December Class IV price was announced at $13.36 per cwt., up 6 cents from November…

December 29, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

Butter stocks fell 16 percent from October to 251.8 million pounds, up 39 percent from a year ago. The month-to- month drawdown was the smallest since 2012, indicating a build-up in butter stocks weighing on the markets. Cheese stocks grew 0.3 percent from October to 1.344 billion pounds, up 1.7 percent from a year ago….

December 22, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

Total US milk production climbed 3 percent year over year to 18 billion pounds in November, with production per cow up 2.3 percent or 43 pounds, marking the largest milk yield increase since 2016. The nation’s dairy herd also expanded, up 62,000 head from a year ago to 9.41 million head, 12,000 more than in…

December 16, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

The trend toward fuller fat dairy products accelerated in 2020, according to USDA data and a Daily Dairy Report article. Year to date, production of plain and flavored yogurt was up 2.9 percent over 2019. Year-to-date production of regular hard ice cream production was also up, increasing 3.3 percent to 635 million gallons. Butter production…

December 9, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

Fluid milk sales have been up and down in 2020, according to USDA’s Estimated Fluid Milk Products Sales report. Fluid milk sales were their highest in March, up 8.3 percent from the year earlier, also posting gains over a year ago in June and July. However, Class I utilization fell hard in August, September and…

December 2, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

The Daily Dairy Report recently reported statistics that point to a recovering economy. Third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew 33.1% from the dismal second quarter but not quite back to pre-COVID19 levels. Unemployment has dropped from April’s record high of 14.7% to 6.9% in October. Food service sales have also improved dramatically from April’s…

November 24, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

US total milk production was up 2.3 percent year-over-year to 18.6 billion pounds in October, with 37 more pounds milk per cow and 43,000 more head in the nation’s dairy herd. Cow numbers jumped 14,000 head from September. California’s milk production was up 1.2 percent, while Wisconsin grew by 1.7 percent. Idaho boasted a 2.7…

November 18, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

Class III milk futures prices on the CME fell hard this week, with concerns about another pandemic-related shutdown weighing heavily on the industry. Class IV milk price futures held steady but remained low. The average Class III price for the next 12 months (not including November) fell 35 cents from a week ago to $16.64…

November 11, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

This month’s USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report estimated the 2020-21 corn crop at 14.507 billion bushels, down 215 million from last month’s estimates. Average yields were reduced by 2.6 bushels to 175.8 bushels per acre, while corn exports are expected to reach an all-time high of 2.65 million bushels. The combined effect…