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Illinois dairy specialist says component quality is key to profits under milk quotas

A University of Illinois dairy specialist says many milk producers have to learn how to manage within processor quotas.

Mike Hutjens tells Brownfield most Illinois milk processors and some in other states have already told their producers not to make too much milk, and that creates a new management challenge.  Instead of efficiently making the most milk, Hutjens is offering tips to make the most money from the milk they are allowed to produce.  “Three of them I would consider strongly, such as building milk components, breeding.  Now that’s going to take a while, breeding for more components out in the program.  Milk fewer cows, and that’s not a popular topic especially among the bankers.”

He tells Brownfield producing too much milk gets expensive fast.  “At least in Illinois, there’s only so many thousand pounds of milk you can market every day, and once you go over that limit after the end of the month, you’re going to be deducted a penalty for producing that milk, and the penalty starts at two dollars and goes all the way up to ten dollars (per hundredweight).  Trust me, with fourteen dollar milk, you don’t want to take too many two-dollar penalties because most farmers can’t produce milk for twelve dollars a hundred.”

 

Hutjens says drying up the cow too early is not a good solution.  And, he says producers hesitate to sell cows to lower their production because the market is not favorable for sellers.

Hutjens talked to Brownfield at the Illinois Dairy Summit in Freeport, Illinois Tuesday.

Mike Hutjens speaks with Brownfield’s Larry Lee about this and feed management at the Dairy Summit in Freeport, Illinois 1/30/18