A dairy market analyst says the milking herd isn’t likely to see major expansions anytime soon.

The Daily Dairy Report’s Sarina Sharp tells Brownfield it’s currently cost-prohibitive to expand dairy facilities and bred heifer numbers are at a ten-year low.

“We just don’t have the livestock to fuel a rapid expansion,” she explains.  “The only way that we’re going to expand is to really slow down cull rates and keep the cows that we have around.”

High beef prices have been encouraging strong dairy cow slaughter numbers this year and Sharp says semen sales indicate beef crosses continue to be more prevalent.

“The beef industry is using less semen than it did in the past because the beef cattle herd has shrunk as a result of several years of drought in cattle country,” she says.  “And yet, beef semen sales are going up and that difference there is sales to dairy producers.”

Sharp says low margins forced some farmers to size down their herds or exit the business this year.  The dairy herd has declined by more than 27,000 cows since the end of 2022.