By  E. W. Lang

Festive Yuletide Greetings to those of you who haven't crossed me in the last year or so.   Some of my regular readers observe Festivus, derived from the Latin, "joyous, holiday feast day" that includes an airing of grievances and the lesser-known celebration of poor spelling.  There's also a brief, insincere atonement for a life of indifference to societal standards.

Spot milk ran $4.50 under Class this week which is  $4 higher than a year ago.   Butter is at its highest price on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange since August 2019.  This has delivered Class IV Milk Futures to the highest level that we have seen since 2014.  As such, some processors are taking in additional, discounted,  homeless loads of milk to churn over the Holiday weekend...

But... I suspect that covid call-ins will make weekend milk-plant staffing a complicated endeavor, if airplane ride cancellations are any indication.

Most full-time dairy farmers don't fly to holiday or other non-deductible, non-livestock events.  The TV news reports of stranded flyers in crowded airports make me think, "If these people had chores to do, they wouldn't be in this situation."  

Here's a little holiday suggestion for those of you farmers who also have a job in an industry that demands 24-7 staffing such as health care, emergency services, etc.   This is something that will accrue value over a lifetime. 

Schedule your personal holiday activities for a week or month before or after the traditional day of celebration.  Volunteer to work on every holiday at holiday pay and pull a double shift if needed. Also, volunteer to cover any fellow worker if he or she is prone to calling in for whatever reason, real or imagined.  Keep a careful accounting of ALL of this, then hold it over the head of your employer and co-workers so that you can go and do as you please, when you please.

This is an art form that allows and enhances personal freedom, and costs only a willingness to work when others don't want to, and a willingness to deviate from a rigid holiday schedule.  It allows for things like shows, destination sales, breed conventions and other deductible stuff that, unlike family holiday events, you actually want to go to. 

Cheese gained a couple cents this week.  Butter gained 14 cents, much like corn.  Soybeans gained twice that much, so milk-feed margins remain at low-normal levels.  Class III Milk Futures for next year average $19.75 per cwt.  Class IV futures average $20.25 for 2022.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Dominum.