According to state officials, Wisconsin farmers received an average price of $17.90 per hundredweight (cwt.) for their milk in September 2010 - that's about $1.53 per gallon at the farm gate.  The September price is up $4.40 a hundredweight - or about 37 cents a gallon - from September 2009. The October 2010 price is expected to increase 70 cents to $18.60 per cwt - or 1.59 per gallon.

The trend of higher milk prices month-to-month may be coming to end in 2011 however.  Naomi Blohm, market analyst with the Stewart-Peterson group in West Bend tells the WI Farm Report that dairy farmers need to watch dairy product markets as leading indicators of where their price is going.

Monday in Chicago, for example, both the barrel and block cheese price dropped 3 3/4 cents and 4 1/4 cents respectively.  Blohm says the markets reacting to the latest dairy stock report from USDA.  "Normally the market is prepared for about a 4-5 % stock report of cheese on hand.  The latest report showed a 6 % supply of cheese in storage - that's a big number for the market to handle.  With the supply-demand situation we've got - we see charts indicating milk prices in 2011 will test the $13 per hundredweight price very early."

The expected U.S. milk price for October is $18.30 per cwt., 60 cents higher than last month, but 30 cents lower than Wisconsin’s price.

All of the major milk producing states are predicting an increase from September to October. California is expecting the smallest increase, leaving it with the lowest price, at $16.50 per cwt. Michigan, New Mexico, and Pennsyl-vania, on the other hand, are all expecting increase of 90 cents per cwt.