News

Base milk prices increase for October

The milk check will be bigger for most dairy producers this month, the October all-milk price increased $1.50 to $21.10 per hundred pounds. The highest all-milk price is $24.00 in Florida while the lowest is $19.20 in California.

 The October milk-feed ratio is 1.68, up from 1.58 in September but below the 1.82 of a year ago.

The October base milk prices: Class II $18.44 up $1.40 from September but 97 cents below October of 2011. The Class III base price for October is $21.02, up $2.02 for the month and $2.99 above a year ago. Class IV base is $18.54 up $1.13 from September and 13 cents above last October. Component prices per pound for October milk: butterfat $2.1136; protein $3.7278; nonfat solids $1.2828: other solids $0.434.

The average price for milk cows in the United States was $1,390 per head at the end of October compared to $1,420 at the end of July and $1,480 a year ago. Vermont has the highest price at $1,550 per head while Missouri has the lowest at $1,100. While most states saw a decline in prices from July to October, Florida and New Mexico had higher prices. In Wisconsin, cows averaged $1,460 at the end of October down $100 from July.

Read the full NASS report here: