Income over feed cost in Pennsylvania has averaged just under $12/cwt for the first four months of 2014. That’s driven by lower feed costs, but more importantly, record milk prices.
“Penn State’s measure of income over feed costs fell by 2.2% in April, but it is still very high,” says Jim Dunn, an ag economist with Penn State. “The April value of $11.93/cow/day is the second highest value since we began calculating this measure.”
Pennsylvania’s all-milk price has averaged over $26/cwt since the first of year, with January’s prices the only one below $25/cwt at $24.90. Milk prices are expected to decline the rest of the year, based on current future prices. The Pennsylvania all-milk price is still expected to come in at $25.64 for May, and then slowly drift down to $22.29 by December.
If these prices hold, the Pennsylvania all-milk price would average $24.46 for all of 2014.
You can read Dunn’s full report here.
