See the latest Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook report.
Report Summary
Dairy: Milk production for 2024 is lowered from last month, with lower estimates for milk cow inventories and lower expected milk per cow ensuing from the most recent Milk Production report. The all-milk price estimate for 2024 is $22.60 per hundredweight (cwt), $0.05 lower than last month’s forecast. With changes in the 2024 estimates for dairy cow inventory, the forecast for the average number of cows in the first half of 2025 is revised downward; however, the rounded 2025 average forecast for the dairy herd is unchanged at 9.390 million head. Compounded by a downward revision of 85 pounds in milk production per cow, the 2025 annual forecast for milk production has been lowered 0.8 billion pounds to 227.2 billion pounds. With higher price forecasts for dairy products in 2025, the forecast for the Class III and Class IV milk prices have been also revised upward. The all-milk price forecast for 2025 is $23.05 per hundredweight, $0.50 higher than last month’s forecast.