United States-Dairy Co-operatives.

UNITED STATES-DAIRY COOPERATIVES.

Cooperatives Working Together on Wednesday launched it latest herd retirement program, which analysts predict could boost cow slaughter by as much as 15,000 dairy cows per week this summer.

Given the dramatic downturn in dairy economics in the past six months, CWT is anticipating a large number of bids, according to Jerry Kozak, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, which manages CTW.

CWT has set no target for the volume of milk or the number of cows to be removed from the market in this round of the retirement program.

Recent retirement programs have removed some 50,000-60,000 head, according to the CME Group’s Daily Livestock report.

"Given the depth of the current crisis, we will likely see even more dairy cows go to slaughter, maybe as many as 150,000 to 200,000 head, implying an additional 12,000 to 15,000 dairy cows per week this summer," livestock analysts Steve Meyer and Len Steiner wrote in the report.