By  E. W. Lang

Dairy product and cow prices are up this week while three decades of peace and freedom end in two old Soviet states.   

Block cheese gained 20 cents per lb. this week at $2.15.  Barrels gained seven cents at $1.97.  Butter was up 9 cents at $2.59 per lb., while whey and non-fat dry milk were nearly steady.  Class III milk futures for March gained 45 cents at $22.55 per cwt., while the average for April, May and June gained a significant $1.20 per cwt. to average $23.58. 

Class IV futures gained 18 cents for March at $24.74 and 78 cents on average for April, May and June where the average is $25.15 per cwt.  Margins over corn and soy prices gained a little this week and are in the mid $10 range in the near term and over $11 for the summer, as per the Indices.   

Parlour commercial Holstein cows topped en masse at $2200 to $2950 at Premier in Withee, Wisconsin, this week.  Tie stall cows topped from $1700 to $2100 and Holstein heifers ready to breed ran from $700 to $1150.  That heifer price is significantly higher than we've seen in some years.  Successful use of sexed-semen and the great fallout of milk producers during the last few years tanked heifer values. There were few commercial or traditional farms that could grow heifers at a profit when facility or labour costs were accurately included, thus low heifer values starting at birth.  

Grade Jersey cows topped at $1500 to $1600 at Premier and poked through $100,000 on a couple head in California on Saturday, but both of those cows were officially registered in the AJCC Herd Book.   

Hay prices topped out at $270 per ton in Dyersville, Iowa, and that was for large squares of 4th cutting alfalfa with an RFV of 192.  There seems to be a lot of medium and good quality dry hay around the country, at least in the midwest.  There is more talk of corn and soybean prices drawing the chisel to plow old alfalfa acres this spring.  This is based on my recent discussions with two commercial hay producers who had each talked to cash grain farmers at church, one Catholic and one protestant.

Much of the world's commodity value, and wheat production, is affected by the situation among Russia and Ukraine, particularly as nuclear threat and dangers are in play.  Ukrainians after 30 years no longer enjoy the economic freedom to engage in commerce, or to even live safely in their own homes.  Across the border, the people in Russia are not allowed say aloud, "There is a war in Ukraine," on penalty of 15 years' incarceration.   

In the United States, we often worship a flag and openly declare our rights as interpreted by our own cursory reading of a pocket Constitution.  We determine and justify our station in life relative to others, who largely only have a different interpretation or view on social justice, social vice, ordinance or holy scripture than we do. 

Our perspectives on freedom can be pretty shallow compared to both the slaughtered and conquered of Ukraine and the censored and oppressed in Russia.