Looking at the January 2025 USDA Cattle Inventory report, it confirms a continual decline in the overall U.S. cattle and calf inventories. All U.S. cattle and calf numbers were down 1% year over year to 86.7 million head.
Once the harvest is in, the deer have been hunted, and the holidays have been celebrated with family and friends, it’s time for the planning season. Over my career, I find that a lot of the long-term planning that occurs on dairy farms happens this time of year. Based on my experiences as a dairy…
A quick peek at the 2025 milk futures curve might leave you with the impression that this year might be fairly calm. But I can say with certainty that 2025 markets will be far from boring. What are some of the key things we’re watching as 2025 gets underway?
Any of us who has ever had little kids can probably remember how easy the word “why” came up. As children, we are more comfortable asking “why?” when someone tells us something or we see something we don’t quite understand. However, as we grow, we become less apt to ask why because we don’t want…
The USDA announced November’s Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) margin at $14.29 per hundredweight (cwt), $4.79 above the $9.50 trigger. This will be the ninth consecutive month for program year 2024 with no indemnities triggered at any coverage level. We saw November’s margin continue the downtrend from September’s peak margin of $15.57. November’s all-milk price dropped…
Based on the November USDA Milk Production report, we saw a modest increase in Pennsylvania’s milk production of 1.0% from November 2023’s 783 million pounds to November 2024’s 791 million pounds. PA cow numbers were down 1,000 head from last year’s 466,000 head to 465,000 head. Milk output per cow climbed 20 pounds from 1,680…
It gets talked about all the time, and it is an ever more important feature in the US dairy market as we ship about 4% of our milk in the form of cheese on a protein basis into the international market. But we often don’t take the time to break down the who, what, and…
Based on the USDA October 2024 Milk Production Report, we saw U.S. milk production increase 0.2% from October 2023 to 18.69 million pounds. U.S. milk cow numbers climbed 10,000 head year-over-year and 19,000 head month-overmonth to 9.37 million. This increase in cow numbers on a national scale could be due to low replacement heifer inventories,…
The USDA announced October’s Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) margin at $15.17 per hundredweight (cwt), $5.67 above the $9.50 trigger. This will be the eighth consecutive month for program year 2024 with no indemnities triggered at any coverage level. Following September’s peak margin at $15.57 per cwt, we saw a 40-cent drop in October’s margin. October’s…
At my house, just off the crest of the valley top with fields to the west, there’s typically a point in mid-October when it seems like something in the wind shifts, issuing in the change of season. This year, the dairy markets seemed to experience a similar drafty shift. For months, dairy prices strengthened from…
