Here’s Progressive Dairy’s monthly review of October FMMO data to provide some additional transparency to your milk check.

Trends that have been keeping overall U.S. dairy exports in check for most of the year remain largely unchanged.

Over the weekend, the four leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees agreed to a provision that extends the current farm bill into next year.

The October DMC margin is forecast at about $9.54 per cwt, above the maximum Tier I DMC coverage level of $9.50 per cwt.

Roughly 40% of all U.S. dairy farms have non-family member employees, and about 70% of those workers are immigrant employees.

National FFA 2023 Agricultural Proficiency Award recipients were named during the 96th National FFA Convention & Expo, Nov. 1-4, in Indianapolis.

Overall, 81 projects were awarded more than $1 billion under the 2023 RCPP, administered by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

With improving milk prices and margins and tightening cow numbers, average prices for U.S. replacement dairy cows moved to an eight-year high in October.

Struggling cheese and protein prices weakened the Class III price, offsetting strong butterfat and Class IV prices and widening the Class III-IV price spread, adding substantial Class IV depooling incentives.

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its latest Ag Prices report on Oct. 31, including factors used to calculate September 2023 Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) margins and indemnity payments.