Survey of U.S. cow-calf producer methods and opinions of cattle health and production record-keeping

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe U.S. cow-calf pro­ducer characteristics associated with the use of cattle health and production records (CHPR). We anonymously surveyed 14,294 cow-calf producer members of the National Cattle­men’s Beef Association (NCBA). Multivariable logistic regres­sion by manual forward variable selection was used to test demographic factors for association with CHPR-keeping out­comes. In total, 3,741 (26.2%) responses were received, with 3,641 (97.3%) respondents actively involved in cow-calf pro­duction. Of 3,624 respondents who said whether or not they maintained CHPR, 3,169 (87%) used some form of CHPR. Of 3,133 respondents who described their CHPR-keeping meth­ods, 1,966 (62.8%) used handwritten, and 1,167 (37.2%) used electronic CHPR. Annual cow inventory (96%), breeding dates (89.3%) and calving dates (88.1%) were the most commonly recorded CHPR. Among all respondents, understanding commercially available CHPR software (57.2%) was the most commonly identified CHPR-keeping challenge. Factors associated with using any form of CHPR were seed­stock production (OR = 5.1; compared to non-seedstock production), respondent age (≤ 54 years: OR = 2.5; 55-64 years: OR = 1.7; 65-74 years: OR = 1.3; compared to age ≥ 75 years), female respondents (OR = 1.7; compared to male), respondent’s primary income source is cow-calf op­eration (OR = 1.5; compared to not being pri­mary income source), and respondent having a post-graduate or professional degree (OR = 1.7; compared to high-school diploma or less). This study concluded that demo­graphic factors such as producer age, gender, education level and operational goals impact CHPR-keeping on U.S. cow-calf operations.