Dairy cows too expensive to feed, herd numbers fall

The number of dairy cows in the United States is plunging at a pace not seen in more than a decade, signalling elevated costs for products like butter. The cost of feeding dairy cows has been soaring, said Nate Donnay, director of dairy market insight at StoneX Group. That is forcing dairy farmers to slash herds. The US herd shrank by 85,000 cows between June and September, the biggest four-month drop since 2009.