Inside this month

August 2024 – Issue No. 540

Inside this month’s issue …

OUR STORY OF THE MONTH (Click the blue title below to read "the complete story"):

Retail Milk Price-Gouging in Upper Midwest and Kansas City

Dairy Livestock Prices Moving up F-A-S-T (p. 1): Tight milk supplies, scarce replacement dairy heifers, and cheap grain prices are all working in tandem to rapidly propel prices paid for dairy livestock. Nice springers and milk cows are commanding $3,500-$4,000 in some markets.

Global Financial Meltdown Further Lowers Grain Commodities (p. 1): A bumper crop for corn and soybeans is depressing prices new crop prices, while heavy carry-over stocks of grain persist as we approach the end of the 2023-24 grain marketing year.

Very Nice WI 120-Cow Herd Sold to Fair Oaks: $3,000/Head (p. 2): A cattle jockey for Fair Oaks Farms is cherry-picking top-notch herds in Wisconsin. $3,000 apiece for milk cows and springing heifers from a registered Holstein herd with a herd average of just under 30,000 lbs? Dairy farmers often do not realize the fast-rising values

June ’24 Sustains Cottage Cheese Volume Growth (p. 2): Cottage cheese growth in June put 2024’s first half’s increased production at +14%.

July ’24 Class III Price at $19.76/Cwt. (-$0.08): The headline says it all. The cheese milk price in the federal milk order slipped backwards slightly in June, compared to May.

Bird Flu Precautions in Effect to Protect World Dairy Expo Cattle (p. 3): Jan Shepel interviews personnel at World Dairy Expo about precautions being taken for the world’s upcoming biggest dairy cattle show at the beginning of October.

Appeals Court Ruling on Refinery Waiver Cases Could Hurt Ethanol (p. 3): Small refineries’ petition to be excused from the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standards were sustained by a federal appeals court. Corn growers concerns are that precedent could spread. One-third of the nation’s corn crop goes into ethanol production.

Mgmt. Team Exodus at United Dairymen of Arizona (p. 3): In recent months, the CFO, the CEO, and a top-tier marketer have all left United Dairymen of Arizona.

Strategies for Dairy Farmers in these Fast-Changing Times (p. 4): The Milkweed suggests several strategies for dairy farmers to better prosper in these times of rapid changes.

Updated Transportation Credits Help Ease Southeast Milk Trucking Costs (p. 5): Earlier this year, three Southeast federal milk orders (#5, #6 & #7) had revised transportation credits. Each order is a bit different. These changes arrive just as the region becomes even more dependent upon supplemental milk supplies from outside the region.

Small WI Dairy Supplying Milk to 29 Schools in 18 Districts (p. 5): Weber’s Farm Store – a small fluid milk processor in central Wisconsin – has gained increased numbers of local schools providing Weber’s milk to kids. Local milk from a local processor to local schools – the way it ought to be.

Reviewing Project 2025’s Ag & Food Policy Proposals (p. 6): Pete Hardin summarizes the major agricultural and food polies proposed by the controversial Project 2025 document issued by the Heritage Foundation. Project 2025 is politically controversial.

Illegal Immigrants Policies: Huge Impact on Ag & Food (p. 6): One Project 2025 policy not included in ag & food section calls for detention and deportation of illegal immigrants. It’s estimated that half the agricultural laborers in the United States are undocumented aliens. The percent of workers in food processing firms is similar.

Retail Milk Price-Gouging in Upper Midwest & Kansas City (p. 7): We summarize months of reporting by detailing the overt retail milk price gouging that’s taking place in the Upper Midwest and Kansas City markets.

Renegade Carbon Intensifies Hurricanes’ Frequency & Power (p. 8): Paris Reidhead details how accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere warm air temperature and ocean surface temperatures. Warmer ocean waters help fuel stronger hurricanes.

CWT Program on Thin Ice, Heading into NMPF’s Meeting (p. 9): The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program headed by the National Milk Producers Federation is up for renewal. NMPF’s annual meeting is in late October. The Milkweed exposes CWT’s historic failures. In recent years, roughly 75% of CWT’s income has gone to pay off legal settlements and lawyers’ fees. CWT settled two cases for a combined total of over $200 million dollars.

Butter & Cheddar Prices Relatively Flat, NFDM & Whey Rise (p. 10): Pete Hardin analyzes the current U.S. dairy commodity scene. We content that prices for butter, Cheddar and nonfat dry milk are all posed to rise.

The Power of Hurricanes (p. 11): Pete Hardin details a few facts about Hurricane’s power and the massive strength required to deposit many inches of rain over tens of thousands of square miles.

Florida Buyers Paying Big Bucks in Texas for Dairy Cows & Springers (p. 12): Dairy operators from Florida are scouring Texas, offering big bucks for milk cows and good springers. $3,500-$4,000 per head are prices being offered. Florida has the highest milk prices in the country. Florida dairy producers can lock in cheap grain for the next year.

Agri-Mark Bans Raw Milk Sales by Members (p. 12): The incompetents leading Agri-Mark have bigger problems to worry about than disallowing raw milk sales by members. Agri-Mark has been deducting $3.00-4.00/cwt. In marketing costs and operating losses for much of the past year. The parasite is killing the host.

Sour Cream from Texas at Wisconsin State Fair (p. 12): Customers buying baked potatoes at the Wisconsin Pavilion at the State Fair expect to receive Wisconsin foods. But sour cream from Texas was offered to buyers of baked potatoes this summer.