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Survey shows importance of written animal care protocols

Beef producers and veterinarians say written protocols and procedures are the most impactful resource to improve animal care.  That’s according to a new survey released by Merck Animal Health, which polled more than 650 cow-calf producers, stocker operators, feedyard operators, and veterinarians.

Dr. Guy Ellis with Merck says the survey helps identify challenges facing producers and veterinarians and identify resources that would be of most value.

Along with written protocols and procedures, respondents say the other top resources, in order, are written employee animal care commitments, documented employee training, antibiotic stewardship, and individual animal record keeping.

The survey also identified practices that result in hiring high-quality employees, Spanish protocol translation and training, consistency across multiple locations, and beef industry advocacy as important to animal care.

The same online survey identified veterinarians followed by state and national associations as the top influences for beef care guidelines.  The top training topics were animal handling and stockmanship and identifying and treating sick animals.