Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has finished the farm audits of its sixth herd retirement round since the program was started in 2003, removing 50,630 cows that produced almost one billion pounds of milk.
At the completion of the on-farm auditing process earlier this month, CWT removed 186 herds in 33 states, comprised of nearly 51,000 cows that produced 976 million pounds of milk. These figures reflect the final number of dairies that successfully were audited in the herd retirement process in December, January and early February.
CWT had received 471 bids from 40 states during the bidding process last fall. 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 1,240 bred heifers.
The totals for each region* in the 2008-2 round include:
Northeast: 43.7 million pounds of milk; 22 farms accepted; 2,295 number of cows; 25 bred heifers; $6.47 average bid/cwt
Southeast: 65.4 million pounds of milk; 28 farms accepted; 3,750 number of cows; 58 bred heifers; $6.48 average bid
Midwest: 64.4 million pounds of milk; 48 farms accepted; 3,290 number of cows; 39 bred heifers; $6.20 average bid
Southwest: 304.6 million pounds of milk; 39 farms accepted; 17,522 number of cows; 763 bred heifers; $6.36 average bid
West: 497.9 million pounds of milk; 49 farms accepted; 23,773 number of cows; 459 bred heifers; $6.87 average bid
TOTALS: 976 million pounds of milk; 186 farms accepted; 50,630 number of cows; 1,240 bred heifers; $6.49** average bid
* Note that bids are grouped by region for comparative purposes, even though regional volume safeguards were eliminated in 2008.
** Represents a simple average of all 186 bids, not the average of the five regional averages.