The dairy markets continue to show strength, cash cheese barrels gained another quarter-cent on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.  Blocks increased a penny, nonfat dry milk added a half-cent while butter held steady. Class III futures contracts added a few cents each.

Dairy Market News reports the spring flush is in full-swing and there is plenty of milk available.  Spot loads are selling for $2 to $5 under Class with some as much as $8 under ahead of the three-day weekend.

National Ag Statistics Service reports 242,800 dairy cows were sent to slaughter in April, 18,000 less than in March but 13,000 more than in April of last year.  For January through April, 1.021 million dairy cows were slaughtered under federal inspection, 39,000 more than in the first four months of 2014.

Of the 242,800 dairy cows sent to slaughter in April, 65,300 were from California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.  62,400 were from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  Year-to-date the California group of states has sent 287,000 dairy cows to slaughter while the upper Midwest states have sent 251,000.

Delegates to the World Intellectual Property Organization diplomatic conference on the Lisbon Agreement signed an agreement on Thursday.  The pact expands the protection of appellations of origin to include geographical indications and expanded the protections granted under the international registry.

Geographic Indications limit the use of certain product terms or names to those in a particular geographic area.  The European Union has been pressing to severely limit the use of a number of cheese, wine and other product names they contend should only come from specific areas.

The U.S. led a 12-nation coalition in opposition to the Lisbon Agreement especially given the fact a number of WIPO member-nations, including the U.S., were not allowed to vote on the measure.