Farms Sizes Continues Growth
Producers in the dairy Industry continue to increase efficiency and lower costs with larger farms. The Census of Agricultural does a survey every five years that includes the size of diary farms. The charts below show the trends over 35 years. The time span is lengthy to provide data that show trends that can predict […]
Are “Other Solids” Increasing Revenue?
Prior posts have focused on producer revenue from butterfat and milk protein as they are the two largest sources of revenue for producers. As shown in Chart I below, revenue from Other Solids is a small contributor compared to butterfat and milk protein. Chart I – Revenue per cow for Butterfat, Milk Protein, and Other […]
Butterfat Prices Continue to Fall. What are Milk Protein Prices Doing?
The prior post showed that the producer price of butterfat is continuing to fall. This post will cover the most recent price trends for milk protein. If both butterfat and milk protein prices are falling, producers will be scrambling for survival. The protein price is dependent on the wholesale cheddar cheese price and the butterfat […]
Where are Butterfat Prices Going in 2026?
Where are butterfat prices going in 2026? The answer is Down, Down and Down. This post will cover the reasons why the Agricultural Marketing Services (AMS) butterfat prices are decreasing. Chart I and II below show the 12-month moving average prices for butter and butterfat through February 2026. While they show significant decreases, the actual […]
Another Growth Product for the Dairy Industry, A2 Milk
After reading the headline, many readers are probably wondering “Why is this a growing category of milk?” This post will cover some of the reasons that this is a growing category. Unlike the growth of fairlife milk, covered in a prior post, this is a category that is growing worldwide and in all segments of […]
Are the Gains in Milk Production Paying Off?
The prior posts reviewed the amazing gains in producer productivity. Increases in butterfat components, increases in protein components, and increases in milk per cow. In each of these areas the increases were continuous over many years. Some of the reasons are improved genetics, more frequent milkings, better housing (barns), scientifically developed nutrition, better care like […]
More Milk per Cow is Another Way to Keep Costs Low.
The last post covered gains in butterfat and protein content. Protein levels were going up as the value of protein increases and butterfat showed some losses as the value decreases. This post will cover improvements in “Milk per Cow” which can also reduce producer costs. The results used in this post are based on data […]
Producers Continue to Make Money with Higher Component Levels.
The prior four posts were mostly bad news for producers. Commodity prices, Component prices, Class Prices, and formula changes were causing lower milk prices for producers. Increases in component levels can help producer revenues. This post will cover in detail how the butterfat and protein component levels are growing. All data is based on the […]
Part IV – Where Will Milk Pricing go in 2026?
The prior three posts covered the trends in milk pricing in 2025. This post will use that data to estimate where producer milk prices may be going in 2026. BUTTER Butter demand grew rapidly in 2023 and has put pressure on inventories. Chart I below traces the domestic disappearance from inventories. The growth rate peaked […]
Part III – Milk Class Prices in 2025
Milk Class prices published by the USDA are an Index based on the monthly prices of components and fixed levels of components. The formulas were changed in June 2025 and as a result the prices before June 2025 and the current Class prices are not comparable. The data in this post uses the USDA published […]
