Robert Tigner
Agricultural Systems Economist, Educator
The February 2018 Iowa-Nebraska dairy budget turned very negative for February. I was unable to complete a January budget. The 20,000 pound freestall budget shows a loss of $1.91 per cwt economic return while the 24,000 pound budget was negative by $0.22 per cwt. This came about due to increased feed costs and much lower protein price. The butterfat price dropped as well as did the SCC adjuster. There was barely enough money available in the 20,000 pound freestall budget to pay all production costs and the employees needed for the dairy farm. In the tiestall budgets, only the 24,000 pound budget had enough cash to pay labor costs. Neither tiestall budget had positive economic returns.