With some commentators quoting the price of a milking cow at US$2000-$2500 a head, the cost of losses is expected to be large.
Estimates of 5% losses and with the average herd size in New Mexico reported at 2300 head of cattle, some operations will have lost over 100 cows.
The loss in milk production will also be felt for a long time. Aside from the loss of numbers, milk production was lost for the few days of the storm. The remaining cows are also expected to have lost momentum in milk supply and arenot expected to return to previous capacity this season.
New Mexico and Texas are both in the top 23 milk producing states in the US. Latest milk production figures from the USDA shows that milk production for November was down for both States compared to a year earlier.
New Mexico’s milk production for November was down 3.3% to 617 million pounds, with 323,000 milk cows yielding 1910lb/head.
Texas’ milk production for November was down 1.7% to 825m pounds, with 462,000 milk cows yielding 1785lb/head.
Some commentators said the storm’s impact on the remainder of the season’s milk production is not expected to affect prices due to ample supply in the industry.
