MILK
Cow numbers were the surprise in the December Milk Production report. The top 24 states showed cow numbers declining 9,000 head from November with 50-state cow numbers down 8,000 head. This indicates culling is already increasing even though milk prices were at good levels in December. High feed prices are definitely having an impact. Milk production was up 0.9% in the top 24 states with production per cow 8 pounds higher than a year ago. Milk production in the country was up 0.8% with production per cow up 9 pounds from a year ago. This was a bit surprising due to the generally mild weather during the month. There were eight states which showed production declines in December. Florida showed the greatest loss of 12.7% followed by Virginia down 6.5%. New Mexico declined 4.8%; Washington was down 3.3%; Utah was down 2.2%; Illinois declined 2.0%; Oregon declined 0.5% and Minnesota was down 0.3%. The state with the largest increase was Georgia with an increase of 10.8% followed by South Dakota with an increase of 8.9%. Iowa gained 6.0% with the rest of the states posting gains of less than 4.0%.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $18.53 |
| 6 Month: | $18.55 |
| 9 Month: | $18.88 |
| 12 Month: | $19.10 |
CHEESE
USDA released the December Cold Storage report which showed American cheese inventory increasing in December but unable to move above a year ago. Inventory increased 9.1 million pounds totaling 825.2 million pounds with stocks closing the year down 2.0% from a year ago. Swiss cheese stocks increased 1.8 million pounds totaling 24.2 million pounds which is 10% above a year ago. Other cheese inventory totaled 595.6 million pounds, an increase of 4.1 million pounds from November and 3.0% above a year ago. Total cheese stocks increased 14.1 million pounds above November 2021 to a total of 1.445 billion pounds.
BUTTER
Butter inventory growth was the big surprise with inventory gaining 16.5 million pounds, a gain of 8.0% from November. This moves butter inventory at the end of 2022 to 9.0% above the end of 2021. First of all, it is not typical to increase inventory in December and then to close the year 9.0% higher than last year when inventory was 22.0% below 2021 in August.
Outside Markets Summary
March corn declined 2.25 cents ending at $6.7475. March soybeans jumped 14 cents closing at $15.0250 with March soybean meal up $5.70 per ton closing at $465.50. March wheat closed 6.75 cents higher at $7.4125. February live cattle slipped $0.25 closing at $157.60. March crude oil gained $0.02 closing at $80.15. The Dow gained 10 points closing at 33,744 while the Nasdaq declined 21 points closing at 11,313.
