Adoption of technology and management practices by Canadian cow-calf producers

Statistics Canada's 2016 census data were analyzed to determine the proportion of Canadian cow-calf producers who had adopted the use of 7 different technologies and 2 different grazing/feeding management practices, collectively referred to as "management tools." The 4 most commonly used management tools were rotational grazing, in-field winter grazing/feeding, smartphones/tablets, and computers/laptops. Differences in the adoption of these technologies by geographical region, number of producers/operations, herd size, operator gender, and operator age were examined using logistic regression. Estimates of the mean proportion of producers in eastern (65%) and western (60%) Canada using rotational grazing were similar (P = 0.24). However, a greater proportion of producers in western Canada versus eastern Canada were using in-field winter grazing/feeding (P < 0.001), smartphones/tablets (P < 0.001), and computers/laptops (P = 0.002). Adoption of all 4 tools was higher on farm operations with ≥ 2 operators versus those with 1 operator (P < 0.001). Larger herd size was associated with higher adoption rates across all 4 management tools. The effect of gender on adoption rates was equivocal.