The Arkansas Beef Industry - A Self-Assessment1

A mail survey was conducted to determine the current strengths and limitations plus future opportunities and threats for 5 segments of the Arkansas cattle industry. Producers with small cow-calf herds (≤ 50 cows) placed a high value on lifestyle and were concerned with rising production costs and decreasing opportunities to buy land. Respondents with large cow-calf herds (> 50 cows) cited their marketing options and ability to utilize production technology as a strength but were worried about market volatility, environmental regulations, production costs, and disease outbreak. Stocker cattle respondents cited the strategic location of Arkansas as a major advantage but were worried about input costs, cattle health, lack of cattle uniformity, and small margins. Improving calf quality and grouping cattle into uniform groups were identified as future opportunities, and costs of production, environmental regulation, and animal rights and environmental activists were future threats. Purebred respondents were concerned with profitability, environmental and public issues, and the limited value that many commercial cow-calf producers seem to place on herd sires. Opportunities were genetic advancements and education. The support industry saw itself as a primary component of the producer education system with an uninformed industry as their greatest threat. The support industry was worried about the continued consolidation of the support industry itself. The most preferred educational methods were newsletter and printed material, followed by on-farm demonstrations, one-on-one consultation, and experiment station field days. Traditional group meetings were not preferred. Thirty-five percent of the respondents were > 60 yr old, and 68% had > 20 yr experience. Respondents with large cowcalf (3.0 ± 0.14), stocker (3.1 ± 0.14), and purebred (3.0 ± 0.14) herds had a greater knowledge of the Beef Checkoff programs than respondents with small cow-calf herds (2.8 ± 0.14) and support industries (2.7 ± 0.14; P < 0.05). Respondents with > 20 yr of experience (3.0 ± 0.09) had a greater (P < 0.05) knowledge of the Beef Checkoff program compared with respondents with < 20 yr experience (2.8 ± 0.09). There was an 80% approval rate for the Beef Checkoff program with no differences between segments (P > 0.05). Respondents with small cow-calf herds and support industry representatives were not as likely (P = 0.02) to hold membership in National Cattlemen's Beef Association as the other segments. Since the Arkansas industry is similar to that of many states, this information can assist the educator on identifying topics and educational methods to reach each segment of the industry.