Culling cows appears to be a way for dairy farmers to deal with negative margins, allowing them to manage cash flows and pay bills, said Sarina Sharp, an analyst at the Daily Dairy Report. In the week ended January 28, dairy cow culls surpassed 68,000 head, one of the highest cull numbers ever in late January and comparable only to 2021 and the mid-1980s when the government offered herd purchases. . End-January cull rates were 7% higher than the comparable week in 2022. In the first four weeks of 2023, Sharp noted that nearly 273,000 dairy cows were culled, the most in over 35 years. Dairy cow culling in January 2023 was 600 head more than in 2021, when the U.S. dairy cow herd stood at 9.45 million head. That year, the herd was on track to become the largest herd in 25 years with more than 9.5 million cows. The cull last January happened much faster than in 2021, Sharp said. As of December, there were 9.4 million dairy cows in the US dairy herd, which was less than the 2021 ...
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