T he July milk production report was not good news for better milk prices. Milk cow numbers have not begun to decline. At 9.224 million head, this was the largest number of milk cows yet this year. Weather was favorable, for the most part, during June. Only recently has hot weather shown any notable effects on production in Arizona and New Mexico.
Milk production remains better than a year ago in the South and Southeast.
This improved milk production has not required spot shipments of Grade A milk from the Upper Midwest to meet fluid needs in the South and Southeast and therefore, more milk remains available for making manufactured dairy products in the Upper Midwest. Cheese prices did show considerable improvement a few weeks ago, but have since fallen back. Cheese buyers are working off older cheese stocks bought at lower prices before aggressively buying new cheese. Butter stocks are also ample for current needs. Like cheese, butter prices have gone up and down.