Searching around on the web for the latest news in the dairy business will sometimes come up with some strange stuff. On the other hand it will also come up with some interesting information. Like the December “Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook” (pdf file) from the USDA’s Economic Research Service.

Dairy: Dairy markets in the second half of 2005 developed much as expected. The strong returns of the last 2 years unleashed large increases in milk production. These jumps outstripped expansion in dairy demand and
eroded milk and dairy product prices. However, the remarkable demand of late 2005 was enough to keep price declines small. For the year, farm milk prices will average less than $1 per hundredweight (cwt) below the 2004 record—even though milk production probably has risen almost 4 percent on a daily average basis.

There’s a lot more information than that available. Download the full report.