As has been said the term utility means that the breed has been selected and bred for productive traits such as egg numbers and meat yield. Prior to commercial hybridisation producing extremely efficient birds many private breeders would select their own strains for the traits they were looking for. Many breeds were considered utility breeds, Plymouth Rock & Sussex for example were dual purpose utility breeds, White Leghorn, Minorca, legbars all egg laying breeds.
So in the simplest terms the breeds were kept by farmers to produce a saleable product efficiently therefore utilising the feed in an optimal way.
Pure breeds have, since the the hybrids arrival, been kept by enthusiasts and the selection of traits has tended to be for the physical appearance rather than productivity. Therefore the breeds are not always considered to be utility breeds anymore. This is without doubt a result of selecting the birds to meet exhibition standards. Simple genetics really.
My white leghorns produce towards 260 eggs/year. Not bad really considering they have no lighting to extend day length during the winter months. However 50 years ago there would have been strains doing in excess of 300. The modern hybrid will produce 330 even free ranging.
Hope this helps
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