At $27.10 per hundredweight, dairy farmers received a record price for their milk in April 2022. This is the first time the All-Milk price pushed past either the $26 or the $27 threshold. The April 2022 milk prices were $1.20 higher than just one month earlier when the All-Milk price notched $25.90 per hundredweight, a record that stood for a mere 30 days.
Prior to the two most recent historic months, the all-time best milk price was $25.70 posted in September 2014, according to data from USDA’s Agricultural Prices. Back then, costs for feed were far different. Eight years ago, alfalfa fetched $194 per ton, corn sold for $3.28 per bushel, and soybeans garnered $9.64 per bushel.
Fast-forward to the present, and alfalfa hay prices have jumped 25%, with alfalfa hay selling for $243 per ton and premium alfalfa hay netting $271. Soybeans have climbed 56%, now garnering $15.08 per bushel with soybean meal at $476.70 per ton. Corn tops the leaderboard as values shot skyward by 116%, reaching $7.08 per bushel. Also notable are the escalating costs for fuel and fertilizer.
With that perspective, this April’s record milk price of $27.10 . . . up just 5.5% when compared to 2014 . . . doesn’t exactly cover the new cost overruns. Even so, the high prices found in this April’s milk checks were still welcomed by all those in the dairy community.
