From the NMC Newsletter "Udder Topics", October, 1999

Butterfat, protein, solids-not-fat (SNF), other solids (SNF less protein), and somatic cell count (SCC) in producer milk associated with the Upper Midwest Federal Milk Order during 1998 were analyzed to determine average component and SCC levels, season and regional variation, and statistical relationships among components in individual herd milk at the farm level.

Producer milk in the Upper Midwest Order is priced primarily on the basis of butterfat, protein and other solids with adjustments for SCC. The data used in this study are from monthly payroll records for all producers associated with the Order.

The weighted average component levels during 1998 were: 3.70% butterfat; 3.17% protein; 5.53% other solids and 8.70% SNF. Weighted average butterfat, protein and SNF levels were lowest in July and highest in late fall and winter. In contrast, other solids levels varied little during the year.

The weighted average SCC during 1998 was 355,000 cells/ml. The lowest weighted average was 332,000 in December; the highest was 394,000 in July. SCC ranged from 14,000 to 1,497,000 cells/ml; however, during the year most producers had SCC levels that were within one standard deviation of the mean (201,000 - 557,000). As a comparison, the weighted average SCC in the Upper Midwest Order during 1997 was 370,000; with the lowest weighted average in November (321,000) and the highest in August (417,000).

The cumulative value of butterfat, protein, other solids, and an adjustment for SCC averaged $14.53 per hundred weight (cwt) for the market in 1998. Butterfat was the most valuable component, contributing about half of the total value ($7.32), followed by protein ($5.94) and other solids ($1.28). The SCC adjustment for the year amounted to about minus $397,102 or minus 0.4 cents per cwt from aggregated component values of nearly $1.7 billion.

Source: "Analysis of Component Levels and Somatic Cell Count in Individual Herd Milk at the Farm Level: 1998", Federal Milk Market Administrators Office, Minneapolis, MN (Staff paper no. 99-01, July 1999).