Milk prices keep falling in Wisconsin

The Capital Times  —  1/07/2009 12:01 pm

The price paid to Wisconsin dairy farmers for their milk is expected to average $17.10 per hundredweight in December, 70 cents lower and $5.10 less than December 2007, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported.

The expected U.S. milk price for November is $15.90, down $1.20 from November.

All 23 of the major milk-producing states were expecting lower milk prices in December compared to November. California has the lowest projected price in the nation at $13.50 per hundredweight (cwt.), down $1.65 from November.

Prices in Wisconsin for steers and heifers, cows (beef and cull dairy), calves, corn, oats, and soybeans also are expected to decrease from November to December.

Potato, alfalfa hay and other hay prices, on the other hand, are expected to increase during the same period.

As of mid-December, the average price Wisconsin farmers received for corn was $3.90 per bushel, four cents below the average price in November, and 5 cents below December 2007. Nationally, corn prices averaged $4.05 per bushel for mid-December.

Wisconsin soybeans decreased 40 cents per bushel from November, for an average of $8.60, $1.70 less than last December. U.S. soybeans sold for $8.97 in mid-December, down $1.03 from a year earlier.

Oat prices declined in Wisconsin, averaging $2.60 per bushel, a five-cent decrease from November. Nationally, oat prices were $2.40 per bushel, 29 cents below December 2007.

As of mid-December, alfalfa hay in Wisconsin sold for an average price of $110 per ton, $5 more than in November. Other hay types also moved up $5 per ton, selling at $75.

Wisconsin steer and heifer prices averaged $54 per cwt. in mid-December, $4.80 below November. Cow prices decreased $5 per cwt. to $38. Calf prices, at $130 per cwt., were down $7 from last month.

The Capital Times  —  1/07/2009 12:01 pm