USDA released their August Milk Production report on Monday. As expected, production did grow year-over-year given August 2021’s steep drop in cow numbers, but at levels that exceeded expectations. August 2022 cow numbers were printed at 9.427 million, down 11,000 from last year but up 11,000 after revisions report-to-report to July. Total production was 18.218 billion for the month of August, 1.6% greater than August 2021.
Comparing the August 2021 and 2022 reports by regions, California gained 2%, Midwest rose 2.5%, Northeast added 1.3%, Southwest jumped 4.2%, Pacific Northwest increased 0.7%, while the Mideast fell 1.9%.
Spot product markets turned in mixed results on the day. Barrels added 1.25 cents to $2.1025/lb. Blocks lost 3/4 of a cent to $2.0525/lb. Butter rose 2 cents to $3.1525/lb. Nonfat dry milk declined a penny to $1.56. Whey lost a half cent and settled out at $0.455/lb.
Class III milk futures settled around even for the day but did face some selling pressure following the release of the Milk Production report. Class IV had similar type results.
