-August 7,2023-
Both diary and hog producers are having a tough year mired in red ink. So any help on the feed side is good news for both. This week corn prices plummeted on good crop reports and poor export prospects. That may not be the best news for corn producers but it’s fine with dairy operators who are suffering this summer with milk prices far below the cost of production. USDA announced the July Class III price at $13.77 recently. Last summer dairymen were celebrating $25 per cwt milk prices.
Lower feed costs would be welcome by hog producers as well.Hoard’s reports that “THE PORK INDUSTRY IS HEMORRHAGING MONEY as hog farmers are losing $30 to $80 per head. On July 5, August lean hogs traded at 97 cents per pound and December contracts were a paltry 75 cents.”
Corn prices reached $8 a bushel last summer but now are down to $4.82 as of the latest market report.California imports all their corn from the Midwest on 100-car unit trains.Feed costs are typically half the cost of producing milk.
This week corn futures declined down to the $4.8 per bushel level in August, approaching the two-year low of $4.76 touched on July 12th amid the outlook of strong supplies for key producers and exporters. Forecasts of cooler temperatures and favorable chances of rain in growing regions of the United States pared recent threats to American corn from droughts in Midwest farms, improving the outlook on yields.
USDA has had hand in this. One analyst notes that before June 30, traders thought farmers had planted 91.85 million acres of corn. Then the USDA told us the number was 94.10. That’s 2.4% more corn than expected. To sell that extra corn, the price needed to drop.
These lower prices not only help the livestock industry. Consumers too have been looking for lower food costs and corn is key input in so many foods
If you want a a good price on pork items-try spareribs where the wholesale price is down 30% from a year ago according to the the pork checkoff program.