The milk complex on Monday softened once again. It was led lower by cheese declining in price as blocks lost 2 cents on a single trade with the settlement price printing $1.4725/lb. Barrels exchanged 3 loads between seller and buyer with the closing price ending at $1.48/lb, down 6.25 cents for the day. Whey and butter were unchanged at $.61/lb and $1.785/lb, respectively. Grade A nonfat dry milk was off a penny at $1.255/lb on 5 transactions.
Class III milk values had July 26 cents lower and August down 24 cents/cwt, respectively. September 2021 through December 2022 printed settlements between 11 lower to 3 cents higher. Class IV values were mainly unchanged to 10 cents/cwt lower.
The USDA May Milk Production report was released on Monday. A similar story as past reports was witnessed as cow numbers rose once again. The milking herd now stands at 9.505 million head which is the highest level in several decades. When adjusted for revisions on the April report, a total of 15,000 head were added to the herd. Most of the increase in numbers came from the Hi-Plains, Midwest, and Northeast. When looking at total production year-over-year, the United States increased 4.6%. This number would need to be taken with a grain of salt as last year we’re in the onset of covid and a lot of cows were sold and production didn’t have a home.
