Mielke Man: First benchmark of 2023 drops $1.07

pounds less per cow. Idaho was up 1.6% on 9,000 more cows and a 5 pound gain per cow. Michigan was up 1.1%, thanks to a 35 pound gain per cow o setting the loss of 2,000 cows. Minnesota was o 0.3% on a drop of 5,000 cows, though output per cow was up 15 pounds. New Mexico was down 4.8% on a 13,000 cow drop and a 5 pound loss per cow. New York was up 2.8%, adding 10,000 cows to its milking string. Output per cow was up 25 pounds. Oregon was o 0.5%, on a loss of 2,000 cows, though output per cow was up 15 pounds. Pennsylvania inched up 0.1% on a 20 pound gain per cow, however cow numbers were down 5,000 head. Georgia had the biggest gain, up 10.8% on 9,000 more cows. South Dakota was up 8.9%, thanks to 16,000 more cows o setting a 10 pound loss per cow. Washington State was down 3.3% on 7,000 fewer cows and a 15 pound drop per cow. e shelves are full of butter again. e latest Cold Storage report shows butter stocks on December 31 at 216.3 million pounds, up 16.5 million pounds or 8.3% from November, and 17.2 million or 8.7% more than De- cember 2021. e other cheese category inched up to 595.6 million pounds, up 3.1 million or 0.5% from November, and were up 18.8 million or 3.3% above a year ago. e total cheese inventory came in at 1.445 billion pounds, up 14.1 million pounds or 1.0% from November and 3.4 million or 0.2% above a year ago.

Stocks have been below year ago levels for 16 consecutive months but high prices likely slowed domestic sales and exports, resulting in building inventory.

American type cheese stocks grew to 825.2 million pounds, up 9.1 million pounds or 1.1% from November, but were 17.7 million or 2.1% below a year ago.

USDA has announced details of additional assistance for dairy producers, including a second round of payments through the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program (PMVAP) and a new Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP). e update to PMVAP and the new ODMAP will enable USDA to better support small-and medium-sized operations who weathered the pandemic and now face other challenges, according to a USDA press release.

Cash dairy prices in e barrels nished the week at $1.63 per pound, 7.75 cents higher on the week, 26.50 cents below a year ago when they jumped 15.25 cents, but the spread was lowered to 23.50 cents.

Chicago started February a little stronger, except for the Cheddar blocks which lost 9.50 cents on the week, closing at $1.8650 per pound. at’s 3.50 cents below a year ago when they jumped 11 cents.

Cheese demand varies, according to Dairy Market News. Some plants are running widely available milk to ful ll strong orders while others are not. Barrel cheesemakers say there is concern about inventory growth, as demand has seasonally slowed.

Production is busy, but for various reasons more plant downtime has been reported in the upper Midwest.

Milk is widely available and spot prices reached $10 under Class III, which has been the case all year.

Cheese market tones are in search of some stability, says DMN. e Jan. 30 Daily Dairy Report points out that Midwest milk production is growing substantially and dairy processors are overwhelmed. Demand for cheese is steady to lighter in the West. Retail sales are unchanged, though some report lighter food service sales. Export demand is softening, as sellers in Europe are, reportedly, o ering cheese for lower prices.

Sales are steady to Asian markets for second and third quarter.

Barrel inventories are larger than blocks and likely contributing to the large block-barrel price spread.

StoneX stated in its Jan. 30 Early Morning Update; European cheese prices continued to fall last week while US and Oceania prices were rather steady relative to that. is will inevitably make US cheese much less competitive in the export market given the low EU cheese prices which could lead to US milk supplies shifting from mozzarella cheese, which we export the most of, to Cheddar which could put further pressure on spot cheese prices.

Oversupply of milk has been an issue in Europe but with margins expected to move back to average to lower type levels, we could see that change into the summer months.

CME butter closed Friday at $2.3750 per pound, up 10.25 cents on the week but 12.50 cents below a year ago.

Central butter plants tell DMN that cream remains widely available. Butter inventories have grown since late 2022. Butter production is very busy. Food service demand for butter, or lack thereof, has some contacts suggesting potentially further butter price, and market, bearishness.

Readily available cream remains in the West. Cream demand continues steady to higher with strong butter production ongoing. Butter inventories keep working towards balancing with demand. Contract sales interest for second, third, and fourth quarter stays light going into February. Spot butter demand is steady.

Grade A nonfat dry milk saw the rst positive move in 14 sessions, jumping 4.75 cents Wednesday and closed Friday at $1.2450 per pound, up 9.25 cents on the week but 58.75 cents below a year ago. Dry whey saw its Friday nish at 41.50 cents per pound, up 8.75 cents on the week, highest in four weeks, but 44.25 cents below a year ago.

-- Lee Mielke, of Lynden, is editor of the Mielke Market Weekly.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and while it’s on a less-than-ideal day of the week, there are still plenty of ways to spend time with your special someone.

• Living in the PNW means ample trails and parks for a nice hike or bike ride, even with a late winter chill. Top it off with a zero-waste picnic or an evening of stargazing.

• Pull up a DIY guide to work on something together, whether it be a recycling art project, repairing an appliance to keep it out of the garbage, or repurposing thrift store finds.

• Swap scavenger hunt lists and go on an adventure! Theme ideas could be relationship landmarks, historical fact-finding, obscure points of interest or interpretive prompts (”a place you like to go to relax”, “your favorite farm-to-table restaurant”, etc) year, FFA chapters around Whatcom County celebrate National FFA Week. This year, National FFA Week is Feb. 18-25. The National FFA website, a.org, o ers a plethora of resources for folks in the know, as well as for anyone just getting interested in FFA. Those resources include implementation guides, national days of service, activity calendars, and various audio and video materials. Founded in 1928, FFA was originally known as Future Farmers of America. The acronym, FFA, became the organization’s o cial moniker in 1988. The o cial name, National FFA Organization, was also assumed in 1988 as the organization is for students with diverse interests in the food, fiber, and natural resource industries, also encompassing science, business, and technology in addition to production agriculture. According to organizational statistics, FFA is among the largest youth organizations in the United States, with more than 730,000 members in more than 8,800 chapters throughout all 50 states,Puerto Rico, and theVirgin Islands. FFA is also the largest of the career and technical (CTE) student organizations in U.S. schools. The National FFA Organization explains at its website that it is led by aboard of directorsand six studentnational o cers who collectively act on recommendations from the national convention delegates and agricultural education’s stakeholders to set the vision and policy for FFA. FFA, however, is not just a national entity. Local FFA chapters and state FFA associations are part of the organization’s structure. According to a.org, the heart of the National FFA Organization is at thelocal chapter level. FFA chapters may be chartered in any public school that has an agricultural education (Ag) program. At the local level, student o cers provide leadership and are elected each year by the chapter’s members. The school’s FFA chapter advisor also provides leadership. State FFA associationsare made up oflocal chapters and function within the constitution of the National FFA Organization. State associations also may create individual leadership structures, awards, programs and competitions. State FFA o cers lead the membership of the state associations and are elected by state FFA convention delegates. Local FFA Chapters are chartered through the state associations. Across north Whatcom County, Lynden and Lynden Christian, Nooksack Valley, Mount Baker and Meridian are some of the high schools involved in FFA. North Whatcom County schools involved in FFA are welcome to send this year’s FFA week photographs to bill@lyndentribune.com.