Dairy prices soften

Dairy prices soften

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Idaho’s high dairy prices have finally softened. In the past 6 months, dairy receipts drove all of Idaho Agriculture into the black. Yet dairy is still a success

“It seems like the producers in Idaho have really stuck to business pretty good and kept the herd sizes about the same and I think it’s good for Idaho that milk prices up and we have the production we do,” said Market Analyst Clark Johnston, of JC Management.

Last fall milk prices hit a five-year high to more than $20.00 per hundredweight. And what goes up must come down. Prices now hover at the mid—$17 dollar mark and producers are confident that they’ll stay here for a while.

All indications show that the market will stay in the $17 per hundred-weight range. Farmers say that's good and bad.

“There isn’t any carry, there’s no incentive for us to forward contract our milk so as you go further out in time, the prices fall off and there’s no carry there. But at $17 dollars we are right at break-even or above for most producers,” said Darren Tabor of Donnelly Farms in Shoshone.

Always a rollercoaster ride for the dairy sector.

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