United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

Veterinary Services 

Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health March 2011 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

U.S. Beef Cow-calf Producers’ 

Consultation with Veterinarians 

and Use of Other Sources of 

Information 

Cow-calf producers have many options when it comes to 

obtaining information related to running the operation; 

information sources include veterinarians, salespeople, 

other producers, publications, and the Internet. With 

tight profit margins in the cow-calf industry, producers 

need to use the most up-to-date and accurate 

information in making management decisions. For those 

with information to share with cow-calf producers—such 

as local health officials needing to warn producers about 

a possible disease occurrence or extension veterinarians 

seeking to share research results—it is helpful to know 

which information sources producers prefer. 

In 2007–08, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) 

studied beef cow-calf health and management practices 

in the United States. The Beef 2007–08 study was 

conducted in 24 States,* representing 79.6 percent of 

U.S. operations with beef cows and 87.8 percent of U.S. 

beef cows. The operations were grouped into 4 herdsize categories: 1 to 49, 50 to 99, 100 to 199, and 200 or 

more beef cows. 

The goals of the Beef 2007–08 study included 

examining the reasons producers consulted 

veterinarians and learning about producers’ preferred 

sources of information on general topics, breeding and 

genetics, and nutrition. 

Veterinarian consultation 

In addition to diagnosing and treating health 

problems, veterinarians can help cow-calf producers with 

decisions about disease prevention, nutrition, breeding 

management, and other production practices. About 

one-half of cow-calf operations (50.8 percent) consulted 

a veterinarian for any reason during the previous 

12 months (table 1). Slightly more than one-third of 

operations consulted a veterinarian during the previous 

 

* States: 

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, 

Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, 

Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 

Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and 

Wyoming.

12 months for disease diagnosis (36.2 percent of 

operations) or disease prevention (35.5 percent). Fewer 

than 1 of 50 operations (1.7 percent) consulted a 

veterinarian for production or financial analysis. 

Table 1. Percentage of Operations that Consulted a 

Veterinarian During the Previous 12 Months, by 

Reason for Consultation and by Herd Size 

Percent Operations 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows)

Reason 1-49 50-99 

100-

199 

200 or 

More 

All 

Operations 

Disease 

diagnosis or 

treatment 

28.6 48.7 60.8 66.7 36.2 

Disease 

prevention 28.4 45.6 58.1 68.5 35.5 

Information 

on nutrition 9.8 16.8 24.1 30.7 13.1 

Information on 

production 

management 

practices other 

than health 

6.2 11.4 15.8 20.3 8.5 

Production 

or financial 

analysis 

1.5 1.7 2.1 3.9 1.7 

Any of the above 43.2 62.9 76.3 82.2 50.8 

Across herd sizes, more than three-fourths of operations 

with 100 or more beef cows consulted a veterinarian for 

any reason during the previous 12 months, a higher 

percentage than for operations with fewer than 100 cows 

(figure 1, table 1). Similarly, a higher percentage of 

operations with 100 or more cows consulted a 

veterinarian specifically for disease diagnosis or 

treatment compared with operations with fewer than 100 

cows, and the percentage also was higher for operations 

with 50 to 99 cows than for operations with 1 to 49 cows. 

The percentage of operations that consulted a 

veterinarian for disease prevention increased as herd 

size increased. A higher percentage of operations with 

50 or more cows consulted a veterinarian for nutrition 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

information than operations with 1 to 49 cows. The 

percentage of operations that consulted a veterinarian 

on production management practices was higher for 

operations with 100 or more cows than for operations 

with 1 to 49 cows. 

 

0

20

40

60

80

100

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows)

Percent

Percentage of Operations that Consulted a Veterinarian for Any Reason During 

the Previous 12 Months, by Herd Size

1-49 50-99 100-199 200 or more All operations

43.2

62.9

76.3

82.2

50.8

Sources of general information and breeding 

and genetics information 

 Producers were asked how important various 

sources for general information and breeding and 

genetics information were to running the cow-calf 

operation. For both types of information, a higher 

percentage of operations considered veterinarians to be 

a very important source than any other information 

source (53.1 percent for general information and 

45.2 percent for breeding and genetics information) 

[tables 2 and 3]. 

 As shown in Table 4, a higher percentage of 

operations with 100 or more beef cows considered 

veterinarians and producer/breed associations to be very 

important information sources than operations with 1 to 

49 beef cows. Of all operations, the majority 

(54.3 percent) considered veterinarians very important 

sources for either general or breeding and genetics 

information. The sources for either general or breeding 

and genetics information considered to be very important 

by the lowest percentage of operations were consultants 

(5.1 percent); radio, TV, or newspaper (6.3 percent); and 

the Internet (7.5 percent). 

Table 2. Percentage of Operations by Importance of 

the Following Sources of General Information to 

Operating the Cow-calf Operation 

Percent Operations 

Source 

Not 

Important 

Somewhat 

Important 

Very 

Important Total 

Extension 

service, 

university, or 

VoAg instructors 

35.8 43.5 20.7 100.0 

Veterinarians 15.2 31.7 53.1 100.0 

Beef magazines, 

agricultural 

journals, or 

publications 

36.5 47.2 16.3 100.0 

Producer/breed 

associations 55.7 31.1 13.2 100.0 

Other producers 31.1 45.2 23.7 100.0 

Salespersons or 

company 

representatives 

56.8 31.5 11.7 100.0 

Consultants 82.9 12.2 4.9 100.0 

Radio, TV, or 

newspaper 

67.9 26.3 5.8 100.0 

Internet 73.3 19.8 6.9 100.0 

Table 3. Percentage of Operations by Importance of 

the Following Sources of Breeding and Genetics 

Information to Operating the Cow-calf Operation 

Percent Operations 

Source 

Not 

Important 

Somewhat 

Important 

Very 

Important Total 

Extension 

service, 

university, or 

VoAg instructors 

44.7 38.0 17.3 100.0 

Veterinarians 22.5 32.3 45.2 100.0 

Beef magazines, 

agricultural 

journals, or 

publications 

40.2 44.3 15.5 100.0 

Producer/breed 

associations 55.5 29.3 15.2 100.0 

Other producers 33.4 44.2 22.4 100.0 

Salespersons or 

company 

representatives 

59.0 30.0 11.0 100.0 

Consultants 83.3 12.5 4.2 100.0 

Radio, TV, or 

newspaper 

70.3 24.1 5.6 100.0 

Internet 74.3 19.1 6.6 100.0 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

Table 4. Percentage of Operations on which the 

Following Sources for Either General or Breeding 

and Genetics Information were Very Important to 

Operating the Cow-calf Operation, by Herd Size 

Percent Operations 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows)

Source 1-49 50-99 100-199 

200 or 

More 

All 

Operations 

Extension 

service, 

university, or 

VoAg instructors 

21.1 26.6 23.6 20.6 22.1 

Veterinarians 52.0 57.4 63.7 63.4 54.3 

Beef magazines, 

agricultural 

journals, or 

publications 

15.6 23.5 21.3 21.6 17.6 

Producer/breed 

associations 13.3 20.4 25.7 23.9 15.9 

Other producers 25.3 23.0 25.2 25.8 25.0 

Salespersons or 

company 

representatives 

11.7 14.0 19.1 15.8 12.8 

Consultants 4.8 6.0 4.2 6.8 5.1 

Radio, TV, or 

newspaper 

6.3 6.7 7.0 4.8 6.3 

Internet 7.4 7.5 9.5 7.3 7.5 

Sources of nutrition information 

Providing optimal nutrition for the cow-calf herd can 

help reduce production costs and maximize production 

efficiency. Operations were asked which sources they 

considered to be most important for information on 

animal nutrition. For all operations, about 3 of 10 

considered feed salespersons or retailers (31.7 percent) 

or veterinarians (27.3 percent) to be the most important 

source of animal nutrition information (table 5). The 

most important sources for the next highest percentages 

of operations were other producers (15.0 percent) and 

extension agents or specialists (11.7 percent). 

Across herd sizes, similar percentages of operations 

considered feed salespersons or veterinarians to be the 

most important source for nutrition information. Although 

private nutritionists were the most important source of 

nutrition information for only 4.0 percent of operations, 

they were the most important source of nutrition 

information for a higher percentage of operations with 

200 or more cows (15.5 percent) than operations with 

fewer than 200 cows. (For information from the NAHMS 

Beef 2007–08 study about nutrition management 

practices, please see “Use of Nutritional Supplements 

for Cows on U.S. Beef Cow-calf Operations,” NAHMS 

#560.0510, May 2010; 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahms/beefco

wcalf/downloads/beef0708/Beef0708_is_Nutrition.pdf. 

Table 5. Percentage of Operations by Most Important 

Source of Animal Nutrition Information, and by Herd 

Size 

Percent Operations 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows)

Source* 1-49 50-99 100-199

200 or 

More 

All 

Operations 

Private 

nutritionists 2.7 3.7 8.0 15.5 4.0 

Feed 

salespersons or 

retailers 

31.4 33.8 33.4 27.6 31.7 

Veterinarians 27.3 28.0 26.3 27.2 27.3 

Extension agents 

or specialists 11.3 14.5 11.9 9.1 11.7 

Other producers 16.6 10.7 11.8 10.6 15.0 

Producer 

magazines 3.4 5.1 5.6 4.4 3.9 

Other 7.3 4.2 3.0 5.6 6.4 

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 

*Other than producer’s personal knowledge or education. 

Trends in use of information sources 

In all three NAHMS beef cow-calf studies (conducted 

between 1992 and 2007), the highest percentage of 

operations—more than 50 percent—identified 

veterinarians as a very important source of information 

for operating the cow-calf operation (table 6). For all 

study years, about one-fourth of operations considered 

other producers and extension service or university 

representatives to be very important sources of 

information. 

In 1992, 34.3 percent of operations reported that 

beef magazines and agricultural journals were very 

important sources of information; however, this 

percentage was lower in 1997 and 2007 (15.4 and 17.6 

percent of operations, respectively). The percentage of 

operations that reported salespersons as a very 

important source of information decreased from 30.8 

percent in 1992 to 12.8 percent in 2007. 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

Table 6. Percentage of Operations on which the 

Following Information Sources were Very Important 

to Operating the Cow-Calf Operation, 1993–2007 

 Percent Operations 

Source 1992/93 

CHAPA1,2

Beef ’97 

Comparable2 Beef 

’973

Beef 

2007-

084

Extension service/ 

university/ 

Vo-ag instructors 

29.2 24.7 24.1 22.1

Veterinarians 56.1 64.1 60.8 54.3

Beef magazines/ 

agricultural 

journals 

34.3 17.0 15.4 17.6

Producer 

associations 16.4 11.3 9.8 15.9

Other producers 24.8 22.8 22.7 25.0

Salespersons 30.8 17.0 16.0 12.8

Consultants 6.0 6.5 6.4 5.1

Radio, television, 

or newspapers 

14.8 8.8 8.0 6.3

Internet NA NA NA 7.5

1

Cow/calf Health and Productivity Audit. CHAPA asked about 

sources for beef production information. Standard errors were not 

calculated. Beef ’97 asked about sources of information to operate 

the cow-calf operation. Percentage of operations for very important 

and extremely important were added together. Beef 2007-08 

asked about sources for general information and for breeding and 

genetics information . 

2

Population: spring calving operations with 5 or more cows in 18 

States. 

3

Population: all cow-calf operations in 23 States. 

4

Population: all cow-calf operations in 24 States. 

Summary 

Producers considered veterinarians to be the most 

important source for information on both general topics 

and breeding genetics. Producers also consider other 

producers and extension service, university, or 

Vocational Agriculture instructors to be important 

sources of general information and breeding and 

genetics information. Both feed salespersons or 

retailers and veterinarians were considered to be the 

most important source of information on animal nutrition. 

Knowing the sources producers use to learn about 

various topics can help ensure that vital information is 

available when and where producers will be most likely 

to access it. 

____________________________ 

For more information, contact: 

USDA:APHIS:VS:CEAH 

NRRC Building B, M.S. 2E7 

2150 Centre Avenue 

Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117 

970.494.7000 

E-mail: NAHMS@aphis.usda.gov 

http://nahms.aphis.usda.gov

#610.00311 

____________________________________ 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in 

all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national 

origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial 

status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, 

political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income 

is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited 

bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, 

large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 

(202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, 

write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence 

Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250–9410, or call (800) 795–3272 

(voice) or (202) 720–6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity 

provider and employer. 

Mention of companies or commercial products does not imply 

recommendation or endorsement by the USDA over others not 

mentioned. USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of any 

product mentioned. Product names are mentioned solely to report 

factually on available data and to provide specific information.