Dairy producers have felt the whiplash milk prices have delivered, swinging from record highs last spring to extreme lows this summer which was caused by a combination of events.
Alyssa Badger, vice president of global operations at insights at HighGround Dairy, shared with AgriTalk’s host, Chip Flory, that stronger than expected global milk production growth, specifically in the U.S. due to high prices and bearish demand, has reflected on 2023’s milk checks.
“Here we are in 2023 and trying to remove those cows as quickly as possible,” she says, stating that the reduction in cow numbers that we are seeing in 2023 is with cows being sent to slaughter.
Badger has a background with risk management as well as working closely with New Zealand dairy company’s HighGround.
“We're expecting production basically to remain negative through the end of the year and into the beginning of 2024,” she says. “That should start to balance things pretty quickly.”
According to Badger, the reasons behind high cull cow numbers is due to high beef costs, high labor costs and some drought.
“Income-over-feed for some farms is the worst that they've seen since 2012,” she shares. “And, there are some farmers that are experiencing the worst margins since 2009.”
Source: dairyherd.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-jesp62
Categories: Kentucky, Livestock, Dairy Cattle