Profitability index reaches new low
By Dairy Herd staff
| Friday, February 27, 2009
One pound of milk sold doesn’t even buy a pound and a half of feed these days, according to the government’s latest milk-feed price ratio.
The February ratio fell 0.15 point to an all-time low of 1.44. That also is a 0.8-point drop from a year ago when it was 2.24.
Feed prices used to calculate the February ratio retracted in the USDA’s “Agricultural Prices” report issued Feb. 27. However, the report also contained a $1.80 retraction in the all-milk price used by the USDA to calculate the ratio. The all-milk price for February is $11.50. It is down nearly 40 percent versus a year ago when it was $19.10.
The cost per ton of baled alfalfa hay fell $6 to $143. The corn price fell 23 cents to $4.13 per bushel. The price of soybeans fell from $9.97 to $9.58 per bushel — a 39-cent drop.
Source: USDA
