MILK
It was a strong close to the day and the week. Class III futures are heading back up to where they were about two weeks ago. March through October contracts are now above $19 again. Cheese prices have been holding well as holiday demand continues to dominate the market. Steady block cheese and an increasing barrel price is providing support under the market. Traders continue to exhibit some caution due to time of year, but they could not help buying into the market to end the week. Cows have been doing well due to mild weather so far allowing for cow comfort. Forage quality is good in most cases with other purchased feed at significantly higher prices. Income over feed was $8.77 in October, making it the 10th consecutive month of payments under the Dairy Margin coverage program. To date, USDA still has not announced when the enrollment for producers to take part in the program for 2022 will begin. Generally, this should be about completed for following year by now. This will probably be made retroactive again. There also has been no announcement of proposed changes to the hay price calculation that had been announced earlier this year. Any adjusted payments were to be made back to January 2020. This seems to all be on the back burner now at a time when this is important for dairy farms.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $18.77 |
| 6 Month: | $18.93 |
| 9 Month: | $18.99 |
| 12 Month: | $18.98 |
CHEESE
For the week, block cheese price remained unchanged with no loads traded. Barrels increased 7.75 cents with three loads traded. Dry whey decreased 0.25 cent with one load traded. It is a little unusual at this time of year for spot trading activity to be so limited. The October Dairy Products report showed American cheese production at 457 million pounds. This was 0.6% below October 2020. Italian-type cheese production totaled 490 million pounds, up 3.5% above a year ago. Total cheese output reached 1.15 billion pounds, up 0.9% above October 2020. Total dry whey production increased 4.0% to 78.2 million pounds.
BUTTER
For the week, butter increased 2.25 cents with 21 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk price slipped 0.25 cent with one load traded. Butter production during the month of October totaled 159 million pounds, down 1.6% for a year ago. Nonfat dry milk totaled 125 million pounds, down 11.7% with skim milk powder at 58.3 million pounds, down 7.9%.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
December corn gained 9 cents, closing at $5.86. January soybeans jumped 23 cents, closing at $12.6725, with December soybean meal up $9.70 per ton, closing at $367.70. December wheat fell 12 cents, closing at $7.9450. December live cattle gained $0.02, ending at $137.67. January crude oil declined $0.24, closing at $66.26 per barrel. The Dow closed 60 points lower at 34,580, while the NASDAQ fell 296 points, ending at 15,085.
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