Here is the news affecting dairies as we enter April 2024.

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its Agricultural Prices report March 28, which includes feed costs used to calculate February Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program margins and indemnity payments.

Here’s an update on news impacting your dairy during the last week of March 2024.

Monthly dairy cull cow marketing is the highest since August 2023.

Here's Progressive Dairy’s look ahead at important dates, reports and advice affecting risk management decisions, as well as other information impacting your milk check in April.

Sudden loss of appetite; decreased milk production; thicker, concentrated, colostrumlike milk; a drop in rumen motility; abnormal tacky or loose feces; and fever are clinical signs reported thus far of an unidentified illness affecting dairy cows in the Southwest. Cases of this contagious illness were first reported several weeks ago in Texas.

Year-over-year U.S. milk production was up 2.2% in the February USDA report. However, with February 2024 containing an extra day due to “leap year,” the adjusted number is closer to -1.1% on a daily basis.

Here’s an update on economic factors impacting your dairy’s financial picture.