in June set at 2.7 percent
Ray Mueller
Correspondent
CHICAGO
In the top 23 states, milk production in June increased by 2.7 percent compared to a year earlier. For the United States as a whole, production increased by 1.7-percent for the second quarter of the year (April through June).
Wisconsin again led the pack among the states in the percentage of milk production gain with a 5.1-percent increase for June. The state’s 2.246 billion pounds of milk production for the month tied the previous record for June which was set in 1985.
California continued its production rebound with a 3.5-percent increase for a total of 3.397 billion pounds of milk in June. Other states with a significant percentage increase were Michigan at 4.7 (707 total million pounds of milk), Washington at 4.7, Arizona at 4.4, Indiana and Oregon at 4.2, Utah at 4.1 and Ohio at 3.2 percent.
Missouri is dropping significantly in milk production, having lost another 5.4 percent when compared to June of 2009. Its 123 million pounds of production for the month was the lowest among the top 23 states. The only other states with decreases for June were Colorado and Texas.
While the milk production numbers were headed upward, dairy cow numbers are still headed downward. The 8.347 million head of dairy cows in the herds in the top 23 states for June was a decrease of 87,000 from a year earlier but there was an increase of 10,000 from May of this year.
Including all the states, the dairy cow total of 9.11 million head was down by 151,000 from a year earlier. Running strongly counter to that trend was the addition of 8,000 cows in Idaho, 7,000 in New Mexico and 6,000 in Michigan since January of this year.
In Wisconsin, the cow number count for June was 1.262 million. This was an increase of 1,000 from May and of 5,000 from June of 2009. The state had 12,705 licensed dairy farms on July 1 – down by 18 since June 1 and by 450 since July of 2009.
National milk production for the second quarter of 2010 was a record 49.7 billion pounds. A boost in the average production per cow is totally responsible for the monthly increases in milk volume. For June, that average in the top 23 states was 1,816 pounds or 67 more than in June of 2009.
New Mexico had the highest average per cow of 2,080 pounds for June. It was followed by Arizona at 2,045 and Colorado at 2,025 pounds. Wisconsin continues to be a bit below the average but its 1,780 pounds for June was an increase of 80 pounds from June of 2009.
In the manufactured dairy product market, there have been steady price advances during the past week despite the report of higher milk production around the nation. This trend continued on Wednesday of this week as new highs were set for 2010 on both Cheddar cheese and AA butter in the spot market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Unfilled bids to buy raised the prices by .25-cent to $1.6025 for Cheddar blocks and by 3.25 cents to $1.56 per pound for Cheddar barrels on Wednesday. The day’s AA butter market tacked on .50-cent for a closing price of $1.79 per pound after an unfilled bid to buy at $1.79 and an uncovered offer to sell at $1.80.
The Class III milk prices on Wednesday did not mirror those price gains, however. In trading through the early afternoon, months with narrow gains and losses were evenly divided for the period from July 2010 through June of 2011. Except for the $13.75 for this July and $15.02 for September 2010, all of the monthly futures prices were in the $14s per hundred through January of 2012.
Cooperatives Working Together has accepted an export bid by Darigold Cooperative of Seattle to ship 388,014 pounds of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese to countries in Africa and Asia during July and August.
