Dairy Information: Protecting Your Profits

The Center for Dairy Excellence offers several information resources to help producers identify opportunities to protect their profits. These documents are reviewed on a monthly “Protecting Your Profits” conference call. Click here to access the latest “Protecting Your Profits” Webinar.

Pennsylvania Dairy Industry Scorecard:The Center for Dairy Excellence publishes a monthly “PA Dairy Industry Performance Scorecard,” which looks at key factors supporting the growth of Pennsylvania’s dairy industry and evaluates trends affecting Pennsylvania’s dairy farms.

  • The national dairy herd is .6 percent smaller than a year ago. The Pennsylvania dairy herd is 5.7 percent less than last March.
  • The Pennsylvania herd fell from 525,000 cows to 495,000 in the past year.
  • Pennsylvania’s milking herd averaged 66.9 pounds per cow per day, down from 68 last March.
  • National production per cow is 75 pounds per day for milking cows, 0.22 percent more than last March. Total U.S. milk production in March was 0.40 percent below last year.
  • PA’s DHIA herd average fell to 22,116 pounds of milk with 1530 pounds of components. This is a 1.6 percent decrease in milk production and 1.8 percent drop in components compared to last March.
  • The March milk margin at 75 pounds of milk was $11.90 per hundredweight, nearly $2 higher than last year.
  • Somatic Cell counts are lower than March 2018, and is lowest March average since at least 2009.
  • The average days in milk on the typical Pennsylvania dairy was 174 days, down from 179 three years ago.
  • Pregnancy rates rose slightly to 22.2 from 21.5 percent last March.
  • Average calving age is now 24.9 months, about 15 days shorter than three years ago.
  • DHIA cull rates are 39.7 percent, about 6.1 percent higher than year ago values.

US Dairy Industry Scorecard:To provide an overview the national dairy industry, with consumption, marketing and production trends, the center publishes the monthly “US Dairy Industry Performance” scorecard.

  • The March All Milk Price was $17.11 per hundredweight, 6.9 percent better than March 2018.
  • March butter and cheese stocks were up 1.38 percent and 4.32 percent, respectively over 2018
  • February powder stocks were up 3.53 percent of 2018 and the rolling 12 month average is up 4.42 percent
  • The February 2019 DMC Margin is $8.22
  • February dairy cow slaughter was up 9.7 percent above last year. The rolling twelve month average of dairy cows slaughtered is 7.0 percent.
  • CME butter prices are 2.6 percent stronger than last March.
  • Federal order Cheddar Cheese prices are 6.94 percent above last March.
  •  U.S. dairy export volumes in February were 3.34 percent better than February 2018 and valued at over $462 billion.

 Zach Myers, the center’s risk education manager, reviews both of these scorecards monthly during his “Protecting Your Profits” calls. The calls are held the last Wednesday of every month. Click here to access a recording of the latest call.