# Class III milk price: the 41.6¢ your cows didn't earn

> USDA's new skim-milk composition factors, in effect since December 2025, lifted the Class III milk benchmark by 41.6¢ to 58.5¢ per cwt in every month from January through October 2026 at constant component prices, according to a Bullvine calculation. The October 2026 class and component price announcement, released November 4, still uses the new factors.

- Date: 2026-11-05 · published 2026-11-05T21:14:19.037Z
- Category: report · region US · magnitude low
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/82475-class-iii-milk-price-the-41-6-your-cows-didn-t-earn
- Commodities: [Milk (Class III)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/MILK.md)

## Why it matters

The increase comes from a formula change rather than from better herd performance or component prices, so comparisons of Class III prices across the change overstate producer gains. For feed buyers, the milk price signal is not stronger than it appears once the factor effect is removed.

## Read by commodity

- MILK: neutral

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2024-12-21 | [Class III prices expected to rebound in next year - Dairy Star](https://feedsoft.ai/events/27110-class-iii-prices-expected-to-rebound-in-next-year-dairy-star.md) | +0.2% | +8.6% |
| MILK | 2024-08-01 | [July FMMO milk class prices mixed \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/6830-july-fmmo-milk-class-prices-mixed-ag-proud.md) | -0.4% | +0.4% |
| MILK | 2026-08-22 | [Price forecasts higher Class III, lower Class IV - Dairy Star](https://feedsoft.ai/events/17916-price-forecasts-higher-class-iii-lower-class-iv-dairy-star.md) | +0.1% | -2.9% |
| MILK | 2023-05-03 | [Economic update: April FMMO milk class prices mixed \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/8134-economic-update-april-fmmo-milk-class-prices-mixed-ag-proud.md) | -11.9% | -13.2% |
| MILK | 2017-11-09 | [Mielke: Benchmark milk prices climb \| TheFencePost.com](https://feedsoft.ai/events/10553-mielke-benchmark-milk-prices-climb-thefencepost-com.md) | +2.1% | -5.5% |

## Sources

- thebullvine.com: https://www.thebullvine.com/news/class-iii-milk-price-formula/

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.