Most news is good news in the dairy trade this week. 

Fourth quarter 2021 Class III Futures gained 30 cents since last Friday.  First quarter 2022 average gained 24 cents.  Class IV for 2022 averages $4 per cwt. over the 2020 average price of $13.50 per cwt. 

For the moment, October Class III is trading at $18.08 per cwt., and November is trading at $18.82 per cwt.  The $18 mark is something we've not seen in Class III trading since mid May of this year.  Class IV, meanwhile is at $16.87 and is $17.60 for November, and has some upside, given that butter in Europe is fetching $2.62 per lb., 90 cents more than here.   

Block cheese gained five cents this week at $1.82 per lb.  Barrels lost four cents at $1.79 and butter lost three at $1.72 per lb.  Non-fat dry milk is at a seven year high $1.46 per lb.  The Milk Feed Index averages $8.24 per cwt. for the first quarter of 2022.  This is a very low normal level, but a gain from recent weeks, owing to higher milk prices and lower feed values for corn and soybean meal.  International shipping continues to be delayed at ports throughout the United States. 

Hay at auction in Dyersville, Iowa topped at $180 per ton.  Most large squares traded from $135 to $170 per ton.  Large rounds were mostly $120 to $145 and grass traded from $100 to $120 per ton. 

Land at auction in Iowa continues to be offered at record acreage and at record prices.  September's auction report had several parcels from $14,000 to $16,850 per acre.  Another sale in early October was at $26,000 per acre, and I had one call from a regular reader asking me about it.  No I didn't buy it, but it is located 48 miles from here, next to developed property and north of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.  

There are more MDs, PhDs, JDs, DsofDS and other advanced and medical degrees per square foot in the Iowa City metro than any other location in the world.  While there, I feel a hint of curiosity even when ordering a cheese board at one of our several favorite restaurants there.  Any one of our servers may be a med student and could one day be one of my several unusually humorless neurologists, or replace my smart ass cardiologist who is overweight and smokes. 

Anyway, my wife and I felt the $26,000 per acre was perhaps a good investment for someone.  The 74 acre parcel sold for nearly $2,000,000 and I would guess has a 10 year hold for commercial development.   That said, I remember the farm land crash of the mid 1980s and the commercial real estate crash of 2008, so it could be an investment that could tank in a few months or a few years.