Free Milk Valorisation Calculator

Compare butter+SMP, WMP, and cheese routes side by side. Find which product mix extracts the most value from your milk pool.

Free, no login Van Slyke formula EU market context

Your milk composition

4.20 %
2.5% 6.0% %
3.40 %
2.5% 4.5% %

Market prices

Enter today's prices for each product.

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Results are per 100 kg raw milk, using standard EU industry yields.

How the calculation works

What yields does this calculator use?

Butter: 82% butterfat content (1 kg fat yields about 1.22 kg butter). SMP: 33.5% protein content. WMP: based on total milk solids at 97% dry matter. Gouda cheese: Van Slyke formula with 93% fat recovery, 78% casein recovery into curd, and 54% dry matter yield.

Why does butter + SMP often outperform WMP?

When European butter prices are elevated relative to WMP, separating the fat and churning it into butter generates more revenue than drying the whole milk. The butter-to-SMP price spread is the critical variable. When that spread narrows, WMP becomes more competitive.

What is milk valorisation?

Milk valorisation is the economics of choosing which dairy products to manufacture from raw milk. Since the same milk can become butter + SMP, WMP, or cheese, processors and procurement buyers use valorisation models to allocate their milk supply to the highest-value product mix.

How do I get accurate market prices for these inputs?

This calculator works with any prices you enter manually. For daily-updated EU and global dairy market prices, Vesper tracks live spot prices, forward curves, and price forecasts for butter, SMP, WMP, and cheese.