Chicago, July 6 - A U.S. dairy group said it had completed a plan to remove 101,040 cows in a bid to stop the slide in milk prices.
Cooperatives Working Together said in a statement on Thursday the cows bought under its seventh and largest herd retirement plan produced almost two billion pounds of milk.
"Even though this was by far the largest of CWT's seven herd retirement efforts, we were able to move quickly in May and June to audit the participating farms," said Jim Tillison, CWT chief operating officer. "The national dairy herd will be noticeably smaller this summer as a result of CWT."
CWT had received 538 bids from 41 states during the bidding process in April. As has been the case with its previous herd retirement rounds, most of the cows removed were in the western regions of the country. This round also removed 818 bred heifers.
Tillison said additional CWT herd reduction activities are likely in 2009, given the depressed state of milk prices and the continuing imbalance between supply and demand.
Milk futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have tumbled more than 50 percent since peaking two years ago, and active August has declined 33.6 percent since late March.