Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has completed the farm audits of its fifth herd retirement round conducted earlier this summer, resulting in the removal of 24,860 cows representing 436 million pounds of milk.

At the end of the on-farm auditing process, CWT removed 203 herds in 37 states. It had received 607 bids from 41 states during the bidding process. As has been the case with its previous herd retirement rounds, most of the cows removed were in the western regions of the country. This round also removed 275 bred heifers. The average accepted bid in this round was $6.10 per hundredweight.

The totals for each region in this round include:

Northeast: 55 million pounds of milk; 29 farms accepted; 13% of total milk reduction; 2,776 number of cows; $6.06 average bid

Southeast: 64 million pounds of milk; 35 farms accepted; 15% of total milk reduction; 3,987 number of cows; $6.25 average bid

Midwest: 70 million pounds of milk; 76 farms accepted; 16% of total milk reduction; 4,124 number of cows; $6.01 average bid

Southwest: 85 million pounds of milk; 36 farms accepted; 19% of total milk reduction; 5,180 number of cows; $5.98 average bid

West: 162 million pounds of milk; 27 farms accepted; 37% of total milk reduction; 8,793 number of cows; $6.35 average bid

TOTALS: 436 million pounds of milk; 203 farms accepted; 100% of total milk reduction; 24,860 number of cows; $6.10** average bid

** = Represents an average of all 203 bids, not just the mean obtained by averaging the five regional averages.