If you’re in dairy, you already know that stress isn’t an occasional visitor – it can often feel like a full-time partner. Between milk prices, feed costs, weather, labor, and 24/7 livestock care, there’s always something demanding your attention. Stress in itself isn’t all bad, but when it becomes chronic, it can take a serious…
Warmer weather last week and in early April paved the way for corn planting to begin in southern counties across Pennsylvania. Still, in the latest USDA Crop Progress Report, only about 1% of the estimated corn planting in Pennsylvania has been completed as of the week ending April 19. Across the 18 top corn producing…
What was once an afterthought with minimal return has become a meaningful source of income. Beef x dairy cross calf prices continue to soar in the U.S., rising from $200 to more than $1,600 per calf over the past five years. This changes the discussion around margin and profitability at the farm level. As calf…
Based on the USDA Milk Production report, U.S. milk output totaled 18.3 billion pounds in February 2026, a 2.9% increase from February 2025. The nation’s average monthly production per cow rose 12 pounds from February 2025 to 1,899 pounds the same month the prior year. The U.S. milking herd was 9.62 million head, up 211,000…
The USDA announced February’s margin at $8.46 per hundredweight (cwt) for the Dairy Margin Coverage program. At the $9.50 coverage level, participating dairies received an indemnity of $1.04 cents per cwt. For program year 2026, this will make the second consecutive month where the margin fell below the $9.50 trigger and resulted in payments. February’s…
Few industries understand the volatility of time better than agriculture. Growing up on a family farm, I’ve seen firsthand that time is money – whether it is calving season, harvesting windows, disease threats, or working against weather – but it also means the health and safety of animals, crops and the vitality of farm families
It’s been a topsy-turvy couple of weeks in the dairy market. Despite growing milk supply around the globe – the US included – product availability appears to be running a bit light. That’s giving commodity prices a boost from earlier this year. Class III prices for April through December are now sitting at $18 per…
Those of us on the dairy farm right now are feeling the pinch of milk prices that have fallen significantly in the past six months, with February’s Class III price announced at $14.94 per hundredweight, up 35 cents from January but still well below the 2025 average Class III price of $18.01. The February Class…
In the February USDA Milk Production Report, the year-end U.S. data was released. For last year, the U.S. milk production totaled 232 billion pounds, a 2.6 percent increase from 2024’s total pounds. For 2025, the U.S. milk production total was revised upward 176 million pounds from January’s initial estimate. Looking back over the past ten…
For many dairy farm families, an important component of their purpose is to build something lasting so the next generation has the chance to continue the farming operation in the future. Many times, there is a family legacy component to their farm’s history that comes with a desire to keep the tradition going. Some people…
