Milk Prices Stay Strong, Springers Mixed
At the midpoint of the year, the all-milk price forecast for 2022 is a whopping $26.20 per hundredweight (cwt), according to the June 2022 USDA/ERS Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook report. That’s 45 cents above the May forecast and $7.67 higher than the actual 2021 average price. The all-milk price forecast for 2023 currently is $23.80 per cwt., an increase of 25 cents from last month’s forecast but $2.40 lower than the 2022 forecast.
The U.S. is predicted to end 2022 with 48,000 fewer dairy cows in the national herd. But milk per cow is expected to increase by 142 pounds, leaving year-to-year total milk production from 2021 to 2022 relatively unchanged. Holstein springer values in Pennsylvania and California appear to be responding to current, high milk prices, but have faltered seriously in Wisconsin. There, springing Holstein heifers can be purchased for roughly half the price compared to most of the rest of the country.
