MILK
I reported Thursday that the usual reporting for the average soybean meal price for each month used for the calculation of the income-over-feed cost for the Dairy Margin Coverage program (DMC) has been changed. I was not able to access the average price. It is now being reported on a weekly basis, which has created some difficulty of knowing just how it is being discovered. By taking weekly average prices, it is difficult to know how to calculate it when there are partial weeks to a month. The Farm Service Agency does put out a price, but it is not released until the following morning. Reporting the income-over-feed price will likely always be delayed until the next day after the report. The soybean meal average price for February was $480.96, an increase of $59.75 per ton from January. The income-over-feed price for the month of February is $10.98. No payments will be received under the DMC program.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $24.20 |
| 6 Month: | $24.10 |
| 9 Month: | $23.71 |
| 12 Month: | $23.18 |
CHEESE
For the week, blocks increased 2 cents with seven loads traded. Barrels increased 0.25 cent with 30 loads traded. Dry whey declined 11 cents with 15 loads traded. Friday showed the largest one-day decline of dry whey since it began trading daily on the spot market back in March 2018. USDA released the February Dairy Products report Friday, indicating strong production relative to a year ago. American-type cheese production totaled 444 million pounds, up 4.3% from February 2021. Italian-type cheese output totaled 470 million pounds, up 6.0% from a year ago. Total cheese production was 1.11 billion pounds, up 6.3% from a year ago. Dry whey output totaled 75.0 million pounds, down 0.4%.
BUTTER
For the week, butter declined 8.50 cents with 27 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk increased 0.25 cent with 22 loads traded. Butter production in February totaled 184 million pounds, down 1.4% from February 2021. Nonfat dry milk output reached 171 million pounds, down 6.9%. Skim milk powder totaled 29.6 million pounds, down 6.4%. Ice cream production totaled 52.3 million gallons, down 6.0%.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
May corn fell 13.75 cents, closing at $7.35. May soybeans fell 35.50 cents with May soybean meal down $17.50 per ton, closing at $450. May wheat declined 21.50 cents, ending at $9.8450. April live cattle lost $0.72, closing at $138.65. May crude oil declined $1.01, closing at $99.27 per barrel. The Dow gained 140 points, closing at 34,818, while the NASDAQ gained 41 points, closing at 14,262.
