Kellie Raper, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist
Two important cattle-related surveys will be launched by Oklahoma State University in late January, including the Oklahoma Cow-Calf Biosecurity Survey and the Oklahoma Beef Management and Marketing Survey. Not all producers will receive a survey and, if you do, you will only receive one of the surveys – not both. You may have already received a “heads-up” postcard as a potential survey participant in December or early January. If so, please keep an eye out for the mail survey, which will be coming from the Southern Plains Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma Cow-Calf Biosecurity Survey
Infectious diseases are a constant threat for producers, as well as for the national herd, the supply chain, and critically important international trade. Disease costs a producer money. Biosecurity seeks to prevent diseases before they occur and to limit the impact of an outbreak. Good biosecurity at its most fundamental level is good animal husbandry. Many operations practice good biosecurity on a daily basis, but they may not refer to it as “biosecurity.”
The purpose of the Biosecurity survey is to learn more about producers’ biosecurity practices and why some biosecurity practices are more widely adopted than others. The Biosecurity survey will help us index biosecurity practices by adoption rate, cost effectiveness, applicability to cow-calf operations and barriers to on-farm adoption. Ultimately, it will help us develop extension programming to educate producers and their teams, including veterinarians, on cost effective biosecurity practices that can be implemented on-farm right now.
This survey effort is funded by a USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program grant. The OSU team is led by Dr. Amy Hagerman (Agricultural Economics), Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, DVM (Veterinary Clinical Sciences), Dr. Kellie Curry Raper (Agricultural Economics), and Dr. Barry Whitworth, DVM, from Extension.
Producers that have questions regarding the survey may contact Dr. Hagerman at [email protected] or Dr. Biggs at [email protected].
Oklahoma Beef Management and Marketing Survey
Also coming to selected producers’ mailboxes in early 2022 is the 2022 Oklahoma Beef Management and Marketing Survey, a survey that you may have received before. This survey recurs approximately every 5 years and is commonly referred to as the OSU Cow-Calf Survey.
The Oklahoma Beef Management and Marketing Survey is a periodic effort to better understand the decisions you make regarding herd management and, in particular, calf management and marketing. This information gives us insight into issues specific to you as part of Oklahoma’s beef industry, helping us update current extension programs and develop new program efforts where needed so that we can better serve you. It also provides a continuing benchmark for comparison of adoption rates of various recommended management practices and other important producer decisions.
This survey effort is funded by a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant and is led by Dr. Kellie Curry Raper (Agricultural Economics) and Dr. Derrell Peel (Agricultural Economics). If you have questions regarding the Oklahoma Beef Management and Marketing Survey, you may contact Dr. Raper at [email protected] or Dr. Peel at [email protected].
We know that completing surveys can be tedious, but please know that your input is valuable to us and helps us to better assist you through relevant extension programming that supports you in meeting some of the challenges that you face as a producer. These two surveys, though separate efforts, have been also been designed to have some linkages so we get a better “big picture” of your needs as producers. Both surveys are designed to guide you through only the parts that apply to you, whether you are a cow/calf producer or not. If you receive one of these surveys in early 2022, we strongly encourage you to respond. Thank you!