Dairy farmers in the nation's top milk producing state saw minor relief in their production costs last year. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, it cost California dairy producers 1.1 percent less to make a hundredweight of milk in 2013 than it did the year before.
This slight drop in milk-making costs can be attributed to higher daily milk output per milk cow, up 1.6 percent from 2012, to 72.7 pounds per cow.
Feed represented 66 percent of the total cost to produce 100 pounds of milk, which is up more than 9 percent since 2009. The actual cost of feed was down 2 cents from the year before, at $11.46 per hundredweight of milk. Grain, minerals and supplements averaged $340.32 per ton, a 0.8 percent rise from 2012. A 2.8 percent drop in alfalfa hay price, to $265.05 per ton, helped feed costs remain basically even.
Despite all-time high feed prices, 2013 income over feed costs rose by 35.6 percent. The $18.97 average mailbox milk price received by farmers participating in the survey, which was an 11.4 percent jump from 2012, helped bolster income over feed cost totals.
After feed, operating costs were the second most expensive segment, accounting for $2.77 for every hundredweight of milk. Next was labor at $1.52, followed by replacement rearing costs at $1.08. Marketing, return on management and return on investment combined contributed another $2.08.
To view the California Cost of Production 2013 Annual Report in its entirety, go to: www.cdfa.ca.gov/dairy/dairycop_annual.html.
