Veterinary involvement in management practices of beef cow-calf producers

Management practices of 53 beef cow-calf producers were surveyed by use of a mail questionnaire. Producers were randomly selected from those who employ veterinarians to perform herd pregnancy examinations. Questions were asked about animal management, grazing and feeding, vaccination, and record-keeping practices. Median herd size was 250 breeding cows, and 2,329 of 2,491 (93%) randomly sampled cows in these herds were pregnant. Less than half of producers associated with these herds reported adoption of many beneficial practices related to bull management, infectious disease management, nutrition, and individual-animal record keeping, suggesting that a considerable number of producers are missing opportunities to optimize production and, thus, economic return. Use of individual-animal production records, which would enable more objective decision making on the basis of production and economic data, was not widespread. These findings suggested that veterinarians serving beef ranches have opportunities to provide additional services incorporating these management practices.