Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) regional uniform milk prices fell nationwide in October. Across all orders, uniform prices declined an average of $1.10 per hundredweight (cwt) compared to September, with declines of $1.50 or more per cwt in three of 11 FMMOs.

Natzke dave
Dave Natzke
Editor Emeritus / Progressive Dairy

Administrators of the 11 FMMOs reported October prices and pooling data Nov. 11-14. Here’s Progressive Dairy’s monthly review of the numbers to provide some additional transparency to your milk check.

Uniform milk prices, PPDs

While not an indicator of specific milk prices received by producers, regional uniform prices are a measure of the baseline to calculate milk check levels. In reviewing individual orders for October (Table 1), uniform prices in 10 of 11 FMMOs reached new lows for the year. The only exception was in the Southeast FMMO, which hit a five-month low.

The California FMMO reported another $1.77 decline from September, to $15.54 per cwt, the lowest October 2025 uniform milk price and the lowest year-to-date uniform milk price across all FMMOs. It’s also the lowest California FMMO uniform price since July 2023.

Pacific Northwest and Southwest FMMOs also saw uniform prices fall below $17 per cwt. At $16.16 and $16.89 per cwt, respectively, both were also lowest for each region since July 2023.

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The Central and Upper Midwest FMMOs recorded the next-lowest uniform milk price for October, at $17.04 and $17.05 per cwt, respectively. The Central price was the lowest since July 2023, while the Upper Midwest price was the lowest since April 2024.

Among all FMMOs, Northeast, Mideast and Arizona regions also saw the lowest uniform prices since June-July 2023. 

Despite the highest October uniform price for all FMMOs, at $22.62 per cwt, the Florida price was the lowest since August 2023.

Comparing producer price differentials (PPDs) in October, the California, Pacific Northwest and Southwest FMMOs posted declines, with others moving slightly higher (Table 1). PPDs have zone differentials, and milk handlers may also apply PPDs and other “market adjustment factors” differently to the milk check.

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Class prices for October

All October milk class prices fell in comparison to the month prior:

  • Class I base price: At $18.04 per cwt, the FMMO advanced Class I base price decreased 66 cents per cwt from September. The drop followed a 23-cent dip in September. For comparison, the Class I base price was $23.17 per cwt for October 2024.
  • Class I base price with zone differentials: Class I zone differentials are added to the base price principal pricing points to determine the actual Class I price in each FMMO. With those additions, October’s Class I prices averaged about $22.16 per cwt across all FMMOs. The highest price was in the Florida FMMO at $24.84 per cwt, and the lowest price was in the Arizona FMMO at $20.64 per cwt.
  • Class I mover formula: The spread in the monthly advanced Class III skim milk pricing factor ($10.03 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($9.26 per cwt) was 77 cents. The advanced butterfat pricing factor was $2.39 per pound, a 38-cent dip from September.
  • At $16.02 per cwt, the October Class II milk price was down $1.37 from September and down $4.99 from October a year ago. It was the lowest since April 2021.
  • The October Class III milk price fell 68 cents from the previous month to $16.91 per cwt. It was down $5.94 per cwt from October 2024 and the lowest since April 2024.
  • At $14.30 per cwt, the October Class IV milk price was down $1.87 from September and down $6.60 from this time last year. It’s the lowest since March 2021.

Component values, tests

The values of butterfat and protein moved in opposite directions in October. Butterfat dipped to $1.8252 per pound in October, down almost 37 cents from September and $1.26 less than the value of about $3.09 one year ago. It’s the lowest butterfat value since March 2021.

The value of milk protein settled at $2.8761 per pound in October, climbing about 17 cents from September and the highest since October 2024, when the value peaked at $3.3238 per pound.

Compared to September, the October value of nonfat solids was 91 cents per pound, down about 6.5 cents. Other solids inched 1.5 cents higher to 33.6 cents per pound.

Influencing statistical uniform prices “at test,” October’s average butterfat and protein tests in pooled milk were up slightly in all FMMOs providing preliminary data. Somatic cell counts in the few FMMOs reporting monthly averages were slightly less in October compared to September.

Pooling totals

As in October, the uniform price decline was in part the result of the drop in value butterfat and Class IV milk and resulting depooling of higher-valued Class III milk.

The total milk volume pooled through FMMOs in October was 11.1 billion pounds, about 426 million pounds less than in September. Virtually all of that pooling decline came in Class III milk.

Class I pooled milk totals increased month over month by 2.6% (162.5 million pounds) to 3.589 billion pounds; Class II pooling increased 0.7% (5.2 million pounds) to 21.994 billion pounds; and Class IV pooling increased 3.2% (263.3 million pounds) to 2.731 billion pounds. In sharp contrast, October Class III pooling fell 6.5% (about 857 million pounds), bringing the monthly total down to 2.789 billion pounds (Table 2).


Looking ahead

Based on FMMO advanced prices and current futures prices, the outlook for November regional uniform milk prices is anticipated to move lower yet again.

  • Class I base price: As announced previously, the November 2025 advanced Class I base price is $16.75 per cwt, down $1.29 from October and the lowest since September 2021. It’s $5.78 per cwt less than November 2024.
  • Class I base price zone differentials: Class I zone differentials are added to the base price principal pricing points to determine the actual Class I price in each FMMO. With those additions, November’s Class I prices should average about $20.87 per cwt across all FMMOs. The highest price is in the Florida FMMO at $23.55 per cwt and the lowest price being $19.35 per cwt in the Arizona FMMO.
  • Class I mover formula: The spread in the monthly advanced Class III milk pricing factor ($10.62 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($8.15 per cwt) was $2.47, a $1.70 change from last month. with Class III on top again. The advanced butterfat pricing factor was $1.86 per pound, a 53-cent fall from October.
  • Other class prices: November 2025 Class II, III and IV milk prices will be announced on Dec. 3. As of trading on Nov. 13, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) November Class III milk futures price settled at $17.20 per cwt, up 29 cents per cwt from October’s price. However, the November Class IV milk futures price closed at just $13.69 per cwt, down 61cents from October. If Class III-IV futures prices hold, the November Class III-IV milk price gap will be $3.51 per cwt, adding further incentives for Class III depooling.

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