AN EVALUATION OF THE NEWSLETTER “BEEF CATTLE TIME” – DETERMINING THE IMPACTS OF “BEEF CATTLE TIME” AS PERCEIVED BY TENNESSEE BEEF PRODUCERS

This study examined the impacts of a beef cattle newsletter, “Beef Cattle Time,” on Tennessee beef producers. The purpose of this study was to assess the impacts of “Beef Cattle Time” as perceived by Tennessee beef producers on the utilization, satisfaction, benefit, and future of this newsletter. A self-developed, seventy-six question, survey was mailed to 639 randomly selected Tennessee beef cattle producers. Two hundred seventy six (43%) participants responded. One hundred thirty-four (48.6%) reported reading “Beef Cattle Time” and 142 (51.4%) had never read “Beef Cattle Time.” The utilization of “Beef Cattle Time” as a source of information was found to be used less than other sources of information by all respondents. The most popular source was that of cattle and farm magazines. Those beef producers who read “Beef Cattle Time,” were quite satisfied with it as a publication, and it was considered to be beneficial to those producers who did read it. Beef cattle producers did want to see “Beef Cattle Time” continue into the future.