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Limited milk production will aid prices

A dairy economist says while October milk cow numbers did creep up some, he doesn’t expect much of an increase in milk production over the winter.

University of Wisconsin’s Mark Stephenson says a recent survey of extension specialists in his state confirms there isn’t an abundant supply of high-quality forages.

“We’re ok to short and we’re at average quality to poor.  I think we’re going to have some problems when we start to get into this silage with milk per cow.”

He says that, along with financial stress on farms, low replacement cow numbers and continued dairy exits should boost milk prices some in 2020.

“This is a good year and next year is likely to be somewhat better.”

Stephenson’s forecasting Class III prices for the first half of 2020 between $17 and $18 with markets at least a dollar higher on average than 2019.