By  E. W. Lang

There was more debauchery in the milk trade this week.  Class III Milk Futures for July lost 11 cents at $16.48 per cwt., August lost 18 cents, September lost 55 cents and October lost 73 cents per cwt. to end the week at $16.94 per cwt.  November and December are trading at around $17.50 then calendar 2022 is ranging from $17.20 to $17.55 per cwt., mostly.

Last week's  Class III week-over-week loss was 0 to 40 cents, and this week moved down the 11 to 73 cents that I mentioned earlier, so that's pretty bad. 

Block cheese gained two cents at $1.63 per lb. and barrels lost a nickel at $1.39 per lb.  Butter lost three-and-a-half cents.

Milk margins on the farm remain at historically miserable levels. USDA has announced that milk producers participating the Dairy Margin Coverage program will receive assistance if they have signed up at the $6.50 per cwt. or higher level.  So that is a significant subsidy that is available to producers at an amount determined by their historic production, and can cover up to a couple hundred cows on most dairies. 

Feed costs have been high enough long enough that herds are liquidating out west at a faster than normal pace for summer. Here in the midwest, top milk cows are fetching $1700 to $2000 and good cows are running from 900 to $1675 per head at Premier Sales in Withee, Wisconsin.  Big smooth Holsteins are bringing $900 per head at slaughter right now.  (1500 lbs. X $.60)   So people are buying cows to milk, even though the profit incentive has largely been on sabbatical for years. 

Alfalfa hay topped Dyersville, Iowa, this week at $290 per ton for premium large squares.  Good large squares of grass sold for $140 to $175  while large rounds of grass sold for $105 to $135 per ton.

I made Minnesota State Fair entries today, even though that event is late enough that I think there's a chance it will be Delta cancelled.  I see less chance of the Iowa State Fair being cancelled.  Our event starts 21 days earlier, and the ideological makeup of our legislators and civil servants is more rural and less sophisticated, mainly since no one gets Minnesota Public Radio down here.  

Anyway, I hope their fair isn't cancelled.  Their show arena was designed to withstand an atom bomb attack, but the Delta is a more modern variant on security.   

I enjoy the Baroque Booth with chamber and  madrigal singers that's not too far from the Cattle Barn.  The MPR booth, located near the Ag/Horticulture Building, has in some funny looking people who sing subversive folk music.  I would never stop to watch or listen, of course.     

A few stories I've read in recent years have the Minnesota State Fair close to the top along with Texas, New York, Iowa (obviously) and several other states, depending on where the article was posted, and who funded it.