The Effect of Air Temperature On Milk Production By: John Denlinger, Christie Johns, Trey Stephens, and Hunter Potts

Aim of the project To determine if there is a correlation between the weather and milk production. Hypothesis: We believe that there will be a significant decrease (25%) in milk production during the summer months (June-Sept.) This topic holds relevance as the majority of us consume products that contain dairy, and milk production has an effect on consumer cost.

The How Through historical records we will obtain the average daily air temperature over the last 11 months for Bridgewater, Va. Through the data base of Old Fields Dairy we will record the weight, in pounds, of each milk pickup for the past 11 months. Through statistical analysis we will determine if there is a significant drop in milk production.

The Results

Results The average monthly milk production is 187,969 pounds of milk. The standard deviation for the monthly milk production was found to be 22,115 pounds

Results

Results Milk production took a rather sharp turn in the month of June, as milk production began dropping at about an average of 10% during the summer months until hitting the trough in September. We believe that the drop in the graph was due to the warmer air temperatures, and the production started rising again as the temperatures started to cool off.

Conclusion Due to the results we have received, we have determined that hotter temperatures will lead to a lower average milk production. With this taken into account we can neither accept nor reject our hypothesis as we believe more data needs to be recorded to be able to say that our hypothesis is true.

Suggestions For Further Studies: Conduct the study while utilizing a minimum of forty-eight months of data. Include other factors that might affect milk production such as the different types of feed, and living habitats. Conduct the study in different locations and climates.