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 […]
PART II of the 2025 Pricing Review: How Were Component Prices in 2025?
Component prices are calculated from the commodity prices covered in the prior post. The component price formulas were changed beginning with June 1, 2025. The changes did reduce the value of each of the four components. The changes reduce the revenue paid to producers and increases the revenue paid to processors. The formulas before and […]
Part I – Were Producer Milk Prices Good in 2025?
This is the first of four posts that will review the 2025 producer milk pricing. They will be compared to five other years starting in 2021. Four different types of data will be covered. The four types are shown below. The charts are all expressed in six year moving averages to eliminate volatility. The price […]
What has Slowed the Decline of Fluid Milk Sales?
Fluid milk sales declined in the U.S. starting in 2020 and continued to decline through 2023. The decline during this period slowed and in 2024 the sales rate increased. Chart I below covers the last six years of U.S. sales of fluid milk. In 2020 sales of fluid milk hit a high of 3888 […]
Is U.S. Dairy Consumption Growing?
The prior post covered the growth of milk production in the U.S. This post covers the domestic disappearance and consumption of dairy products. Is the growth in consumption cooling off? Is inflation causing changes in consumption? Is the increase in milk production needed? This post is based on new data that was not available during […]
