Dairy outlook: feed and milk prices start to cool.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

Increases in feed prices have temporarily slowed but remain at levels encouraging contraction of the national dairy herd. Class III and IV milk prices currently are trending toward similar $18 per cwt levels for 2022. Most of 2020 - and the first half of 2021 - saw a wave of ups and downs, first with milk prices, then with feed costs. Though feed costs remain at near-high levels, there has been some reprieve in prices heading into the fall. Certainly, the 2021 corn crop is a bright spot for most dairy producers. Yields in many locations are 20 percent or more over historical farm averages. Producers are using this extra yield to build silage inventories or harvest shelled corn from the...