MILK
Class III Milk futures settled 1 to 16 cents higher, showing slight gains after the slightly friendly milk production report. The January Milk Production report showed production in the top 24 states was 18.3 billion pounds, down 0.9% from January 2023. The number of milk cows is at 8.87 million head, 49,000 less than January 2023. Annual Milk Production was only down slightly from 2022 at 226 billion pounds, while Production per Cow was at 24,117 in 2023, up 30 pounds from 2022, and 8.4% since 2014. While the numbers themselves seem bullish, we need larger drops in production and the lower milk prices have not done enough to curb the appetite for higher production yet as January did see higher production than December. One item to note is there were 1,642 fewer licensed dairy herds in the United States from 2022 to 2023.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $16.79 |
| 6 Month: | $17.40 |
| 9 Month: | $17.83 |
| 12 Month: | $17.93 |
CHEESE
Cheese futures settled slightly higher, trading 0.7 to 1.7 cents higher. Little activity in the cash market kept cheese prices steady, with only one load traded for blocks at 1.5150 down 0.75 cents from yesterday. Barrels were unchanged with no loads traded.
BUTTER
Butter futures were higher on the day, trading up 1.475 cents to 3.45 cents. Cash markets saw no change at 2.7750 with no loads traded. The February cold storage report will be released on Friday.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
March corn closed 7.75 cents per bushel lower at $4.1100, March soybeans closed down 18.25 cents per bushel at $1160.75 and March soybean meal closed down $5.60 per ton at $342.0. March Chicago wheat closed 0.5 cent higher at $5.8325. April live cattle closed $0.375 higher at $187.70. March crude oil is up $0.96 per barrel at $78.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 48 points at 38,612 with the NASDAQ down 50 points at 15,580.
