Are “Other Solids” Increasing Revenue?

John Geuss

John Geuss

Prior posts have focused on producer revenue from butterfat and milk protein as they are the two largest sources of revenue for producers.  As shown in Chart I below, revenue from Other Solids is a small contributor compared to butterfat and milk protein.

 

 

 

Chart I – Revenue per cow for Butterfat, Milk Protein, and Other Solids

Sales of butter and cheese have been slow and as a result, butterfat and protein component prices are low.  The price of Other Solids is based on the price of dry whey.  Dry whey has been in strong demand and prices are positive as shown in Chart II.

Chart II – Dry Whey Price per Pound

Below are the pricing formulas for Other Solids.  Prior to June 2025 the make allowance was $0.1991 pound.  It is now $0.2668.





 

Prior to June 2025 – Other Solids Price = (Dry Whey Price-0.1991) x 1.03

Beginning June 2025 – Other Solids Price = (Dry Whey Price – 0.2668) × 1.03

Chart III shows the impact of the change.  If the older formula was in use, the Other Solids monthly revenue would be $55.84 per cow in February 2026.  The new formula that is now in place reduces the Other Solids February 2026 price to $48.11, a reduction of $7.43 per month.  For a herd of 1000 cows, that would amount to $7430 per month reduction in revenue.  In a full year that would be a reduction of $89,160.
Chart III – Other Solids Price per Pound

Butterfat and milk protein component levels are increasing steadily.  How are Other Solids doing?  At a glance, Chart IV appears to be a healthy increase like the other components.  In fact, there is almost no change.  The component percent averages have increased from 5.77% to 5.78%, a negligible change.  On a per cow basis there would be a gain as milk per cow is increasing.





 

Chart IV – Other Solids Percent of Milk

SUMMARY

Table I below compares the pricing, percent and revenue for butterfat, protein, and Other Solids.  Although the price per pound for Other Solids is much lower, the percent in milk is higher.  Over time, the percent for butterfat and protein in milk has increased, but the Other Solids percent has remained the same.  Therefore, the revenue for Other Solids makes up less of the total revenue.

Table I – 12-Month Moving Averages of Price, Percent, and Monthly Revenue of components

Butterfat and milk protein revenue is down, and with the formula change for Other Solids, the Other Solids revenue is not going to compensate.  For all three components combined, the February 2026 revenue is the second lowest in the 62 months in Chart V below.

Chart V – Total Revenue per Month per Cow

 

Editor’s Note:  John Geuss is a dairy consultant based in Florida. This information is originally published on Milk Price blog,  https://milkpay.com/blogspot/ , sponsored by Adisseo and is published here with permission.  He may be contacted at johngeuss@gmail.com.

 

Originally published at https://milkpay.com/blogspot/

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*