Is South Dakota Butter Harder Than It Used To Be? I've always preferred real butter over margarine. In our house, we keep a butter dish with one stick of real butter in the cupboard. Over the last couple of years, I've noticed that the butter in the dish doesn't get as soft at room temperature as it used to get. I'm not alone in the observation that our butter is getting harder as of late. In Canada, they have referred to this unfolding situation as 'Buttergate'. There they are saying that as of late butter is even getting more difficult to melt.