Just a ball park idea -- how much butter do you get from cream (from a cow)?? I know that Jersey has more butterfat, thus more cream, than Holstien, etc. but does differant breds produce more butter from the cream? Or is cream just cream? Thanks!

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), July 23, 2001

Answers

It depends on a lot of things. I have a Jersey, and churn quite regularly. Out of a half-gallon of cream I can plan on getting somewhere around two and a half cups of butter. But that is at this time in her present lactation. Things can change so that the cream itself isnt as rich. Some of that is dependant on her feed and some on where she is in her lactation. At the first, there is little cream; barely a pint on a gallon. Toward the end of her lactation, there will be more and more cream, til the cream line is showing down around halfway down the side of the jar. But when I churned that cream, I found that it wasnt as rich in butterfat, because I got less butter out of the same amount of cream. It also depends on the temperature of the cream when you churn it. I find the best yeild comes when the cream is churned at about 65 degrees. But you may find out it works differently for you.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), July 23, 2001.