Tuesday, 02 June 2015 11:47

US going nuts about milk prices

Written by 
Dry California is going nuts. Dry California is going nuts.

From Kentucky family farms to Californian ‘mega dairies’, there is one thing on the mind of US dairy farmers – milk price. In California this is driving many to nuts.

The dairy farmers are not making money right now. The Californian price is $13-$16/cwt (cwt = 0.045 tonne), about $2/cwt below cost – and well below the $20/cwt they were getting last year. Kentucky is on a similar price: one farmer told Rural News they were getting $27/cwt last year.

Although US milk prices are based on various calculations and California has its own system, there’s general acknowledgement that ultimately the Fonterra Global Dairy Trade index has a strong influence.

But despite the low prices this year, the family farms visited by Rural News last month – a 200-cow farm in Kentucky through to a 5500-cow mega dairy in California – are in for the long haul. They won’t be getting out; they will wait for the milk price to come up.

But less-committed farmers are getting out: the whole Central Valley of California is going nuts – almond, pistachio and walnuts.  It is fuelled by Chinese demand and the reported prospect of $10,000/acre (0.4ha) profit (based on almonds). There’s now a three year wait for walnut trees which take five-six years to reach full production. Almonds take three years and pistachio six years.

In a state as dry as a bone after four years of drought, water-hungry nut trees make big demand, reportedly its takes 151L (40 US gallons) of water to grow one almond.

The almond husks make good feed for cows and are shipped around the state. 

Meanwhile, dairy farmers – known as dairymen – no long feel welcome in the state: the state government no longer allows consents for new dairy operations.

Nevertheless visiting New Zealand farmers found much of interest in the Californian system of dairying; it reportedly pumps out twice as much milk (42 billion pounds 19b kg in 2014) from half the number of cows (1.8m). 

More like this

Caught in space

California cow burps are now officially detectable from space.

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Knowing bugs means fewer drugs

A mastitis management company claims to deliver the fastest and most accurate mastitis testing available at scale for New Zealand…

Machinery & Products

AGTEK and ARGO part ways

After 12 years of representing the Landini and McCormick brands in New Zealand, Bay of Plenty-based AGTEK and the brands’…

100 years of Farmall Tractors

Returning after an enforced break, the Wheat and Wheels Rally will take place on the Lauriston -Barhill Road, North-East of…

JD unveils its latest beast

John Deere has unveiled its most powerful tractor ever, with the launch of the all new 9RX Series Tractor line-up…

Biggest Quadtrac coming to NZ!

In the biggest announcement that Case IH Australia/New Zealand has made around its tractor range, its biggest tractor is about…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Why?

OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…

Fat to cut

OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter