Cash cheese markets held steady again on Thursday, barrels at $1.4425 and blocks at $1.5825. Some question as to how long we will maintain the 14-cent spread between barrels and blocks. While some think one or both markets will reverse in the not-too-distant future, others contend this spread is reflecting the actual market; blocks are in much tighter supply than barrels.
Dairy Market News says the Midwest cheese market is steady and milk intakes are starting to rebound from seasonal lows. Class I demand has limited milk supplies in the Northeast to the point cheesemakers have rearranged their production schedules to take advantage of milk being more readily available on weekends.
The week before Thanksgiving is traditionally the heaviest volume week for bottlers. Once schools shut down on Wednesday, more milk should move into manufacturing over the long holiday weekend. Processors say orders have been good for holiday specialties like eggnog, whipped and sour cream. A few loads of Midwest cream were hauled to California to supplement regional supplies. Milk cow numbers continue to drop in the West, USDA says compared to a year ago the dairy herd in the 8 western states from Washington to New Mexico dropped 145,000 cows….more than half of that, 78,000 came out of California….and this is before the latest CWT herd retirement round.
Latest: 
