Class III Prices Expected to Drop Further

At the USDA Ag Outlook Forum, Class III milk prices are forecast to average $16.65 per hundredweight this year. That’s down from $18 in 2025. Feed prices are favorable, but dairy cow numbers are projected to increase. Entering 2025, the number of dairy heifers available for replacement was the lowest on record since 1990. The number of first-calf dairy heifers was the lowest since 2019, when this estimate was first recorded.