HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Farm Show attracts thousands of people from across the United States, but one notable tradition keeps people coming back: the 1,000 pounds of butter, beautifully crafted by two Pennsylvanian sculptors.
The butter sculpture is back for its 33rd year. The sculptors, Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, have been a part of the Farm Show for 22 years.
“I’m honored to be here once again,” said Victor.
According to the Center for Dairy Excellence, 5,000 dairy farms are located in Pennsylvania. These represent 17.4% of all dairy farms across the nation. Pennsylvania's average herd size is about 94 cows, and 99% of all dairy farms in Pennsylvania are family-owned. One of those family-owned farms belongs to Walt More, a dairy farmer of Walmoore Holstein.
“It’s a showcase, it’s a place for consumers to come in our community to get a bit better understanding of where their food comes from and recognize some of the efforts that the farmers put into raising those feeds in Pennsylvania,” said Moore.
This year's Farm Show theme is "Connecting Our Communities," which state officials hope will bring people closer to Pennsylvania's agriculture industry.
Here are some interesting facts about the 2024 sculpture:
- The 2024 sculpture was created with 1,000 pounds of butter.
- There is enough butter to butter 96,000 pancakes.
- It would take one person more than 166.7 years to eat the butter sculpture (based on an annual average butter consumption of 6 pounds per person as of November 2022).
- It takes 21,200 pounds of milk to make 1,000 pounds of butter.
- 1,000 pounds of butter is one day of work for 353 cows.
- 1,000 pounds of butter is about 12.5 months of milk production from one cow.
- The sculpture weighs the same as:
- 116 gallons of milk
- One telephone pole
- 1,000 NFL regulation-size footballs
- 10 newborn calves
Dairy supports jobs across the Commonwealth, with Pennsylvania ranking eighth in milk production in the United States.
After the Farm Show, the butter sculpture will be recycled into energy at Reinford Farms in Juniata County.
Officials say it will be placed in the farm’s methane digester, which converts manure and food waste into energy that helps power the farm and contributes to the local power grid.