From 1966 to 2010, butterfat levels in the U.S. milk supply held a rather tight window ranging from 3.66% to 3.69%. That meant milk flowing from U.S. dairy farms had rather consistent product yield. For cheese, it meant that 100 pounds of farm gate milk yielded 10 pounds of cheese. When it came to butter, 100 pounds of milk could manufacture 4.4 pounds of butter.

Everything started to change in 2010 as butterfat levels began to improve with each passing year. From 2011 to 2020, butterfat in the U.S. milk supply shifted from 3.71% to 3.95%. Then, butterfat began to climb even higher, moving to a historic 4.23% butterfat level last year, based on USDA data. That growing butterfat content in milk has bolstered butter product yields.

So how much butter do we get from farm gate milk these days?

The short answer is that 100 pounds of milk now yields 5.1 pounds of butter. That’s up an incredible 15.5% when compared to the aforementioned butter yield of 4.4 pounds back in 2010. In the past year alone, butter yields improved by an impressive 1.9%, moving from 5 pounds in 2023 to 5.1 pounds in 2024.

This product yield is for butter manufactured and sold as a product containing 80% butterfat. If the same study took place on butter containing 82% butterfat, such as many of the products sold throughout Europe, the 5.1-pound figure would shrink slightly. However, the yield gains over the past 14 years would tell the same story.