The North Dakota Beef Industry Survey II. Comparing herd management and production practices among producers planning to exit the industry and producers planning to remain in production

Abstract Text:

A survey was conducted to determine producer perceptions of the future direction of the North Dakota beef industry. Surveys were sent to 2,500 randomly selected beef producers with 527 surveys returned (21.1%), of which 82.7% (436 of 527) of respondents were self-identified as active beef producers.  Forty-eight percent of respondents indicated that they plan to exit the industry within the next 10 years. To gain insight into future demographic, herd management, and production practices we compared answers to survey questions from producers that intend to exit the industry within the next 10 years (Exiting; n= 207) with answers from producers that plan to remain in production for at least 10 years (Staying; n=220). A greater proportion (P < 0.01) of Exiting producers (97.6%), raised commercial cow-calf pairs compared with Staying producers (91.4%), whereas more (P < 0.05) Staying producers raised feedlot cattle (9.0%) compared with Exiting producers (3.9%).   Though a similar proportion (P > 0.10) of gross income came from beef production, Exiting producers received more (P < 0.05) income from cash grain farming (35.3%) compared with Staying producers (28.2%).  In contrast, Staying producers (17.9%) had a greater proportion (P < 0.05) of gross income generated from off-farm work compared with Exiting producers (12.3%). A greater proportion (P < 0.05) of Staying producers indicated they would use electronic ID (39 vs. 20.9%), obtain carcass data from calves (49.7 vs. 29.5%), artificially inseminate females (51.0 vs. 29.1%), and use scales to monitor feed delivery (50.4 vs. 29.5%) within the next 1 to 5 years compared with Exiting producers. Staying producers were more willing (P < 0.05) to hire qualified personnel from outside of their operation to formulate rations (63.3 vs. 50.5%), test feedstuffs (70.5 vs. 60.9%), and AI females (42.0 vs. 30.4%) compared with Exiting producers, whereas Exiting producers indicated more willingness (P < 0.05) to hire qualified personnel to vaccinate (40.8 vs. 22.7%), deworm (15.2 vs. 8.7%), and brand cattle (16.8 vs. 7.7%) compared with Staying producers.  Producers planning to remain in the North Dakota beef industry beyond 10 years plan to implement more progressive techniques within the next 1-5 years compared with producers planning to exit the industry. Producers who plan to exit the industry within the next 10 years relied more on cash grain farming than operators who plan to remain in the industry.

Keywords:

Beef industry, Future, Production practices