A lot of time and attention goes into cattle research, discovering new ways of doing old things and then extending that information to producers across the country who can make use of it on their own farms and ranches.
One important part of research — and then extension — in agriculture is having a good understanding of what the actual uptake of best management practices (BMPs) is. From there, extension agents have the information that they need to guide future extension activities while getting the best ‘bang for the buck’ with extension dollars.
One way of getting such information is through surveys. The Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) just released the survey results from the Inaugural Canadian Cow/Calf Survey and the results were encouraging to say the least. With 600 producers responding from nine different provinces, Tracy Herbert of the BCRC says that the data is very representative of the national herd.
The survey consisted of 74 questions about breeding in 2022 and the 2023 calf crop. It covered questions regarding BMPs such as water and feed testing, the use of low stress weaning techniques, calf death loss, and open rates among breeding females. Regions across the country have put out surveys of this nature in the past and using those as benchmarks it’s possible to see what has been happening over time within the industry, explains Herbert.
“There’s more things to do in a day than there are hours… sometimes you don’t know where the greatest opportunities might be on your operation” says Herbert. Using tools like the Cow/Calf Production Indicators tool and the benchmarks from the survey can help producers know where the greatest opportunities might be on their ranches.
Watch the video for more on the findings of the survey.
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