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The Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course: An evaluation to determine overall program influence
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the TAMU Beef Cattle Short Course to determine characteristics of participants and evaluate what influence the course had with respect to participants' beef cattle management. Methodology: The course included concurrent workshops and two and one-half days of lectures, exhibits, and cattle demonstrations of proven and new beef cattle management practices. The participants consisted of beef cattle producers with operations of all sizes from Texas as well as some producers residing outside Texas. A survey instrument was designed to address overall satisfaction with the TAMU Beef Cattle Short Course, characteristics of the participants, and participants' current beef cattle management practices. Data were collected during August 6-8, 2001. The survey instrument was distributed throughout the course in an effort to increase response rate. The participants were asked to return the completed survey at the end of the course. The survey data were analyzed statistically using SPSS. Descriptive statistics were used to determine satisfaction with the current course, characteristics of participants, and participants' current management practices. Correlation techniques were used to illustrate any relationships between participant characteristics, knowledge levels, and practice adoption. Major Findings: The audience (95.2%) lived in Texas. The average age of the participants was 53, and 74.3% were male. Herd size varied greatly with the most common (46%) herd size being less then 50 head. The participants spend an average of 55% of their time ranching and receive approximately a quarter of their income from raising cattle. A majority (59%) of the attendees were returning participants. Ninety-nine percent of the respondents reported that they were satisfied with the course, 98% deemed the course as an important source of information, and 97.6% stated they would return to future courses. The data illustrated a variety of beef cattle management practices in use and that producers who had attended the TAMU Beef Cattle Short Course previously used more advanced or preferred methods than did first time attendees.
Description
Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-44).
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Citation
Tracy, Henry Clay (2002). The Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course: An evaluation to determine overall program influence. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -2002 -THESIS -T73.
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