Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) announced the results of its latest herd retirement effort today. According to CWT, the accepted bids will remove more than one billion pounds of milk.
CWT announced today that it is tentatively accepting 343 bids from 39 states, representing 54,000 cows which produced 1.03 billion pounds of milk last year. A total of 1,397 bids were submitted to CWT in this round, a larger sum than the combined number of bids submitted in rounds 2 in 2004 (736 bids) and 3 in 2005 (651 bids).
CWT will remove more than one billion pounds of milk, or 0.6% of the nation’s dairy supply, in an effort to help strengthen and stabilize farm-level milk prices. USDA projects a 2.3 billion pound increase in milk production for 2007 and this action by CWT effectively reduces that projection by 45 percent.
The total number of bids accepted by region in this round includes:
Northeast 138 million pounds, 48 farms accepted, 13% of total milk reduction, 7,195 number of cows
Southeast 92 million pounds, 64farms accepted, 9% of total milk reduction, 5,710 number of cows
Midwest 101 million pounds, 122 farms accepted, 10% of total milk reduction, 5,902 number of cows
Southwest 280 million pounds, 56 farms accepted, 27%of total milk reduction, 14,519 number of cows
West 416 million pounds, 53 farms accepted, 41% of total milk reduction, 20,611 number of cows
TOTALS 1.03 billion pounds, 343 farms accepted, 100%of total milk reduction, 53,937 number of cows