Americans consume about 20 pounds or four gallons of ice cream per person each year, and the U.S. is projected to spend $73.61 billion on ice cream in 2022. With the sheer volume of the United States market, it’s natural to ask exactly how much milk is involved in satisfying the nation's ice cream cravings.

Ice cream production already accounts for almost 9% of all milk used in the United States. However, even more milk would be used if not for the fact that the air content of ice cream lowers the amount of milk and cream required to make it.

You need approximately three gallons of fresh milk to make one gallon of ice cream, and an average dairy cow will produce enough milk daily to make two gallons of ice cream. That means those hard-working cows are giving us 730 gallons of milk a year.