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. To access the latest call, click here or click on the links below to review the documents.

Pennsylvania Dairy Industry Performance 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.

• Pennsylvania’s milk production fell .5 percent from last October with 1,000 fewer cows while national production increased by 1%
• October milk prices were comparable to October 2012 and 2011, but margins improved by $.75 -$.80 /cwt due to lower feed costs
• October’s rolling herd average is still the second highest on the Scorecard after falling slighty from September.
• Somatic cell counts are increasing this fall when compared to last year.

Protecting Your Profits Scorecard:To provide an overview of the national dairy industry, with consumption, marketing and production trends, the center publishes the monthly “Protecting Your Profits” scorecard.

• US milk production increased slightly in September while slaughter numbers remained steady
• Butter stocks are 24% over the 3 year average, approaching September’s highest values since the 1990′s. Cheese inventories are slightly above the 3 year trend.
• Dairy exports in September fell from August levels but are still equalto 16% of U.S. production.
• International butter prices are  trending up while domestic butter and cheese prices remain stable.
• Class IV futures prices are higher than Class III through much of 2015

Alan Zepp, the center’s risk management program 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.