November 24, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

US total milk production was up 2.3 percent year-over-year to 18.6 billion pounds in October, with 37 more pounds milk per cow and 43,000 more head in the nation’s dairy herd. Cow numbers jumped 14,000 head from September. California’s milk production was up 1.2 percent, while Wisconsin grew by 1.7 percent. Idaho boasted a 2.7…

November 18, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

Class III milk futures prices on the CME fell hard this week, with concerns about another pandemic-related shutdown weighing heavily on the industry. Class IV milk price futures held steady but remained low. The average Class III price for the next 12 months (not including November) fell 35 cents from a week ago to $16.64…

November 11, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

This month’s USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report estimated the 2020-21 corn crop at 14.507 billion bushels, down 215 million from last month’s estimates. Average yields were reduced by 2.6 bushels to 175.8 bushels per acre, while corn exports are expected to reach an all-time high of 2.65 million bushels. The combined effect…

November 4, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

US dairy export volumes, on a total milk solids basis, grew 17 percent year-over-year to 190,435 tons of milk powder, cheese, whey products, lactose and butterfat in August, with year-to-date volumes up 16 percent from a year ago. August’s volumes were a record high for the month, while the value of dairy exports was up…

October 28, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

According to the USDA Cold Storage Report, total cheese stocks fell 1.3 percent month-over-month to 1.36 billion pounds as of September 30. Stocks are now just below where they were a year ago, posting the first year-over-year decline since March. Butter stocks were also down, falling 7.4 percent month-over-month to 343.9 million pounds, still 18.3…

October 21, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

US milk production was up 2.35 percent year over year to 18 billion pounds in September, outpacing last year’s production by 400 million pounds. The total US milking herd is 9.366 million cows, up 33,000 head from a year ago and up 5,000 from August. All top eight dairy producing states boasted increases this month,…

October 14, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

USDA’s latest Crop Production Report is supporting the higher feed costs that producers are now experiencing. USDA trimmed yield estimates for both corn and soybeans, dropping the average corn yield from 178.5 bushels per acre estimated in September to 178.4 bushels per acre expected today. Soybean yields were estimated at 51.9 bushels per acre. The…

October 7, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

USDA announced the September Class III milk price at $16.43 per hundredweight, down $3.34 from last month and $1.97 per hundredweight below a year ago. The September Class IV milk price was announced at $12.75 per hundredweight, up 22 cents from August but down $3.60 from a year ago. Read More

September 30, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

Each year in Aug/Sept., the USDA releases fluid milk sales and per capita consumption data for the previous year. Fluid milk sales data is separated into eight categories including whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, skim, flavored whole, flavored other than whole, buttermilk, and eggnog. The report also included a spreadsheet showing trends over 45 years. In 1975,…

September 23, 2020: Dairy Week In Review

The US total milk production was up 1.8 percent year-over-year to 18.6 billion pounds, with 42,000 more cows in the nation’s herd and 27 pounds more milk per cow. Milk per cow averaged 1,987 lbs., down 0.8 percent from July. Cow numbers were flat from July to August. Growth occurred in all seven top producing…