WHAT IS THE IDEAL RATIO OF BUTTERFAT% TO PROTEIN% FOR CHEESE?

  

CONCEPTIONS   Dairy Route Newsletter             Feb-March 2026

Mark Curry        (989) 984- 7027      Route service and sales

Sue Palen           (989) 277- 0480      Office manager, orders coordinator

Greg Palen         (989) 277- 6031      “aAa” Breeding Guide, certified seed specialist

MICH LIVESTOCK SERVICE, Inc   “For the Best in Bulls” and “High Energy Forages”
110 N Main St   (PO Box 661)   Ovid,  MI  48866   *** phone (989) 834- 2661  fax (989) 834- 2914
www.michiganlivestock.com        email:  greg@michiganlivestock.com         (also on “Facebook”)

 

Hilmar Cheese Company in central California was founded by a dozen committed Jersey dairies who were struggling for profitability back in the 1980s under California’s “fat quota” pricing (an order that believed animal fats were health trouble for humans, and which assumed most milk was going into a bottle rather than into butterfat or casein products, typical of USDA’s thinking).

Today, Hilmar is a nationally recognized cheese producer and the Jersey dairies who are primary suppliers to their plant are very healthy financially.    The blend of milk they process daily is in a ratio of 4.5% butterfat to 3.6% protein.    Over 80% of the cows whose milk flows to Hilmar are BB for Kappa Casein (of which the Jersey breed is the clear leader), and the “cheese yield” from this milk is substantially higher (15% more) than you find in typical cheese plants utilizing milk from a cooperative pool.    

As the traditional Jersey cow was always 5% butterfat (or even higher, a few cows reaching 7%) why would a cheese plant owned by Jersey dairymen not seek for that level today?   Simply that the limiting factor is the percentage of protein.     When 5% Jersey milk was desired for cheese, the typical Jersey also produced 4% protein…  80% of the level of butterfat.    As we bred Jerseys to milk more, the percentage of components declined, but the ratio between pr% and bf% that is desired for direct-vat cheese-making is still easily achieved in the Jersey breed.

The same can be said for Brown Swiss, and the traditional “Swiss Cheese” was able to be made directly from Brown Swiss milk without any skimming  (4.2% bf and 3.4% pr with high frequency of BB Kappa Casein).    BB Kappa Casein gives you the highest curd forming milk in any breed.