The numbers are in . . . the national bulk tank climbed to a 3.92% milkfat average in 2019. That’s up from 3.89% just one year earlier.

Not that big of a change, right?

Historical perspective suggests otherwise.

In 2009, the milkfat percentage stood at 3.67%. That means, in just 10 short years, milkfat climbed by 0.25% to reach the 3.92% level.

Also making this shift even more remarkable is the fact that milkfat hovered between 3.65% and 3.69% from 1966 to 2009. That’s a four-plus decade timeline as shown in the graph.

Here’s one final historical perspective . . .

The last time milkfat was over 3.92%, President Harry Truman was about to begin his final year in the White House. Indeed, in 1951, the nation’s dairy farmers shipped milk that averaged 3.93% milkfat.