title: Survey of Saskatchewan beef cattle producers regarding management practices and veterinary service usage.
abstract: Saskatchewan cow-calf producers (n = 2000) were surveyed to determine what factors were associated with their uptake of veterinary services; how and where they access nutritional information and animal health advice; and whether they were comfortable with having non-veterinarians perform veterinary procedures. The survey response rate was 18.1%. Veterinarians were seen as a primary source of nutritional information and animal health advice. Over the past decade producers have shifted their veterinary service usage from individual animal events to herd-level procedures. Producers who pregnancy check were more likely to be large producers (OR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.2 to 3.1; P = 0.007), to semen test their bulls (OR = 3.4; 95% CI = 2.0 to 5.8: P < 0.001), analyze their forages (OR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.7 to 4.0; P = 0.006), and to farm in the brown versus the gray or dark brown soil zones (P = 0.004). Most (94.0%) respondents had adequate veterinary services within an hour's drive of the farm and 90.4% were satisfied with their veterinary service provider. Approximately 25% of respondents would be comfortable with having a non-veterinarian pregnancy check and attend to prolapses.
authors.affiliation: Large Animal Clinical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4.
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jelinski
authors.affiliation: Large Animal Clinical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Large Animal Clinical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hendrick
authors.affiliation: Large Animal Clinical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 52 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5B4.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Waldner
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D012525:Saskatchewan; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018634:Veterinarians; D014730:Veterinary Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*