According to USDA, U.S. dairy cow slaughter continues to lag behind last year’s slaughter rate through the first half of the ’13-’14 season. March ’14 U.S. dairy cow slaughter of 245,700 head was 10.4% behind the ’12-’13 slaughter rate and 6.2% lower than last month on a daily average basis. The March ’14 YOY slaughter decline of 10.4% was the largest in over three and a half years. ’13-’14 YTD dairy cow slaughter is 6.6% lower than last year with the YTD slaughter rate continuing to decrease through the past three months. U.S. dairy cow numbers are key to fundamentally analyzing the milk market for expected supply and price direction. With record milk prices and attractive margins, producers will look to continue the trend of decreased dairy cow culling in future months.