Price of milk set to skyrocket

Most agriculture experts say milk prices will jump in coming months as producers pass along increased costs for livestock feed. Demand for corn ethanol has driven up the price corn, which is the main food crop for dairy cattle. How much that increase will be depends largely on whom you ask and where you live. Ken Bailey, a dairy expert at Penn State University's College of Agricultural Sciences, predicts an overall 8 percent increase for whole milk, from an average of $3.07 a gallon to about $3.35 in October. The news is worse, though, if you live in New York, where milk this week shot up 60 cents a gallon to $3.54, a 20 percent increase, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In Chicago, milk prices in April jumped 12 percent from a year earlier and are expected to rise further.

So while Americans bemoan rising gas prices, they will have to contend with milk prices that are even higher per gallon. And in much the same way that demand for gasoline has remained consistent despite rising prices, so has the demand for dairy.The two have something else in common: Despite the swelling demand, production increases have been limited, adding to price pressures.

Steve - this is the perfect time to switch the dairy herds to the food that they were meant to eat...grass! It will make for much healthier cattle and increase the omega-3 content.