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May 9, 2025: March DMC Margin Snapshot

For the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, the USDA announced March’s margin at $11.55 per hundredweight (cwt). While the margin narrowed by $1.57 per cwt from the prior month’s $13.12 per cwt, March’s margin was still $2.05 per cwt over the $9.50 trigger price for an indemnity payment. We still have not seen indemnities paid…

May 2, 2025: Digging into March 2025 Milk Production Numbers

Looking at the March 2025 USDA Milk Production preliminary numbers, we noticed a slight 1% bump in U.S. milk production year over year. U.S. milk cow herd increased by 57,000 head from March 2024’s numbers to 9.404 million in March 2025.

April 25, 2025: HPAI Update

Greetings all, I hope this article finds you well as spring is in full swing. With consistent warmer weather right around the corner, many who worry about Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) may begin to relax a little. It is normally believed that once the average temperature rises consistently above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, the chance…

April 18, 2025: Grain Markets

Why in an environment with 125% tariffs on ag commodities exported to China would markets rally? Sitting here in mid-April, old-crop May corn jumped back toward the highest levels since late February and are pushing close to $4.90 per bushel. November soybeans, meanwhile, have raced back toward $10.40 per bushel – the highest levels in…

April 11, 2025: Dairy Exports Soft in February

Just ahead of President Trump’s April 2 announcement about reciprocal tariffs on many nations’ products, U.S. Dairy Export Council announced that U.S. dairy export volumes fell 5% in February, dropping 9,587 metric tons to 174,175 metric tons. While several categories saw growth in February, nonfat dry milk and skim milk powder shipments overseas fell 26%…

April 4, 2025: February DMC Margin and Forecasts

On the heels of the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) deadline that closed on March 31st, the USDA announced the February 2025 margin at $13.12 per hundredweight (cwt).

March 28, 2025: Let’s Talk About Butterfat

Over the past few years, we’ve seen an incredible increase in butterfat tests at the farm level, providing yet another reason why to not bet against the U.S. dairy farmer. By January 2025, average U.S. butterfat tests hit 4.46% – up from 4.35% in January 2024 and 4.03% in January 2020. Combined with the 0.1%…

March 21, 2025: USDA DMC Program Enrollment Deadline Fast Approaching

The USDA’s Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) enrollment period for program year 2025 will close on Monday, March 31. January 2025’s margin was announced at the end of February at $13.85 per cwt., which is above the highest tier one coverage level of $9.50. February’s margin will be announced on March 31.

March 14, 2025: On Developing Your Workforce

USDA recently released its 2024 end-of-year projections on dairy farm numbers across the US. The average dairy farm in the US today has 377 mature dairy cows, while the average dairy farm in Pennsylvania has about 96 mature dairy cows. Although Pennsylvania’s dairy farms are still much smaller than in other regions of the US,…

March 7, 2025: Markets and Milk Production

Looking at the recent Milk Production report, we saw the U.S. milk supply dropped 0.2% from 2023’s 226.3 to 225.9 billion pounds for 2024. Milk production peaked in March 2024, when it totaled 19.7 billion pounds that month. Production reached its lowest for 2024 in November at 18.0 billion pounds. From 2015 to 2025, U.S….