November 15, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

The latest USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report could point to more manageable feed costs in the coming year. The report released last week increased the national average yield for corn by 1.9 bushels to 174.9 bu/acre, which was enough to increase the projected US corn production to a new record high of…

November 8, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

USDA Dairy Products report shows output of most dairy products growing in September, compared to a year ago levels. Cheese production was up 0.1 percent year over year to 1.152 billion pounds, while production of American-type cheese was up 4.2 percent and Cheddar cheese production was up 3.1 percent. After decreasing in August, September’s butter…

November 1, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

USDA announced September’s DMC Margin at $8.44 per hundredweight, up $2.02 from August and the highest payment this year. The margin resulted in a $1.06 per cwt indemnity payment, or about $839 per one million pounds of production history. The all-milk price was up $1.30 from July to $21.00 per cwt. in September, while feed…

October 25, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

Total milk production across the US was essentially flat in September, according to the latest USDA Milk Production report, with the nation’s dairy herd producing 17.465 billion pounds. Average milk production per cow was up 3 pounds from a year ago, while the nation’s dairy herd lost 16,000 head in the past 12 months. The…

October 18, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

USDA’s latest production numbers indicate we may have hit a floor in what we can expect for feed costs right now. The agency released its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report last week and cut yield expectations for both corn and soybeans. The average yield per acre for corn was decreased by 0.5 percent…

October 11, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

USDA announced the September Class III price at $18.39 per hundredweight, up $1.20 from August but $1.43 from a year ago. October’s price is the third highest Class III price for the year. Looking ahead, Class III futures prices on the CME fall below $17 for October with the last quarter of 2023 averaging only…

October 4, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

Butter prices on the CME have been steadily increasing, on the heels of last week’s Cold Storage report that showed butter inventories down 40.3 million pounds from July to August. Since the end of July, the spot butter price on the CME is up 66 cents to an all-time high of $3.34 per pound on…

September 27, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

According to the latest USDA Cold Storage report, butter inventories are down 40.3 million pounds form July to August, or 12 percent, to 289.1 million pounds at the end of August. This is the largest August decline in inventories since 2015. Butter stocks were still up 4 percent from a year ago. Total cheese inventories…

September 20, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

USDA announced the October Class I base price at $19.47 per hundredweight, up 57 cents from September but down $3.24 from a year ago. Total milk production in the US is down for the second month in a row, with August production levels slipping 0.2 percent from a year ago to 18.975 billion pounds nationwide….

September 13, 2023: Dairy Week in Review

USDA reported its June fluid milk product sales a couple of weeks ago, with total milk sales falling almost 300 million pounds, or 8.5 percent, from May to about 3.064 billion pounds, or about 356.2 gallons, in June. When fluid milk sales drop during the summer months, some of that milk is often diverted into…