October 2009
CWT Accepts 26,000 Cows in 3rd Round in 2009
Cooperatives Working Together announced Tuesday that it has tentatively
accepted 154 bids in the fourth herd retirement it has conducted in the last 12 months. The
26,412 cows and 517 million pounds of milk accepted in this round, combined with CWT’s three
previous herd retirements since December 2008, equal a total reduction of milk production
capacity of five billion pounds. For more detail click here.
EU Decreases Export Subsidies
The EU decreased export subsidies on a number of products. The SMP export refund was reduced from $0.13 to zero, the WMP subsidy was cut in half to approximately $.10/lb and the butter subsidy was reduced from $0.44/lb to $0.26/lb. The cheddar subsidy was unchanged at $0.15/lb .
CDFA Announces Hearing on all 5 Class Formulas
Last week the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced they will be holding a public hearing
on Monday, November 9th to consider changes to the formulas for all five classes of milk. More information can be obtained by clicking here.
Sept. Milk Production Released This Afternoon
Sept. Milk production in the 23 major States was 13.9 bil.
lbs., down 0.7 percent from Sept. 2008.
Prod/cow in the 23 major States averaged 1,672 lbs for Sept., 22 lbs above Sept. 2008. The
no. of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.34 million
head, 168,000 head less than Sept.
4 Digit Lactose Trade Data Not Correct
We have discovered an error in our 4 digit Lactose export and import data is not correct. The 6 digit level data is correct however. If one needs total lactose exports or import values simply add the seperate 6 digit values. We are attempting to fix this problem.
Fonterra's WMP Auction Data Now Available
We have added to our data collection the monthly results of Fonterra’s
Whole Milk Powder Auction. This data is contained within the Prices subsection of this website.
New LGM-Dairy Premium Calculator Available
We have available a new LGM-Dairy premium calculator that uses historical premium data and actual prices to examine the impacts of alternative LGM-Dairy contract designs. This spreadsheet can be found by going to the
Supporting Software sub-section of the LGM-Dairy area of this website.
USDA Issues Decision on Producer-Handler Exemption
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last Friday announced a recommended decision to make milk price regulations consistent for all dairy processors, including producer- handlers who own farms and process milk. The recommended decision would make producer-handlers with more than three million pounds of Class I sales per month in federal milk marketing areas fully regulated and subject to all pricing and pooling provisions.
Futures Data Problem Has Been Corrected
We have corrected the problem caused by the CME changing the structure of their website. All Futures settlement prices should be current. &bnsp;Let us know if there are any problems.
Use of Sexed Semen Raises Concern
The use of a specialized breeding technique to boost the number of milking cows by
thousands is generating debate in California’s dairy industry.
Some say it doesn’t make sense to produce more milk as farmers struggle with low prices,
high debt and an oversupply. But supporters of the technology say it could be a valuable tool
for efficiently raising more cows – and ultimately ramping up production when demand rises.
In the central San Joaquin Valley, the heart of the nation’s dairy industry, the slumping dairy
economy has hit farmers hard.
