Summary of the Western Canada Swathgrazing Survey Background This online survey of cow-calf producers in Western Canada was conducted to understand the adoption of winter swath grazing and spring residue clean-up among producers. The survey asked about the motivations and deterrents of adopting winter swath grazing and spring-residue grazing practices. Behavioural ethics approval (File #2022-23-12) was obtained from the Red Deer Polytechnic Research Ethics Board on October 26, 2022. The survey link was open from January 17, 2023, until March 31, 2024. Respondents were recruited by sharing the link (e.g. presentations, QR-codes posters and cards) at industry events, social media posts and e-communications. A total of 245 respondents completed the survey. After reviewing for suspicious responses, 18 were removed, resulting in 227 responses for analysis and reporting.1 There were fortyeight questions in the survey which used skip logic (i.e., irrelevant questions suppressed) on the Voxco Survey Platform administered by the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Science Research (CHASR). Even though swathgrazing is one of the least-cost winter feeding strategies (Kelln et al., 2011), reports from the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) show that swath grazing is adopted by less than 20% of producers (BCRC 2024, 2019) who extensively feed their cattle. Swathgrazing provides a system that offers labour and fuel savings with reduced tractor use.
Study Responses and Results To participate, respondents were cow-calf producers with over fifty beef breeding females calved in 2022. Respondents also had to reside in Western Canada (AB, BC, SK, and MB). Most lived in Alberta (55% of respondents). Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the respondents were cow-calf producers. About 75% of the respondents indicated that they feed their cattle in the field while 38% swathgraze. The popular extensive feeding method was feeding with rolled bales. The majority of the respondents supplied water to their cattle in heated water bowls while 21% deployed equipment to manage swaths during spring. The respondents indicated that the greatest motivation to swathgraze was reduced fuel use (95%) and reduced labour (60%). The top three deterrents for respondents to winter swathgrazing were biomass waste, wildlife damage and the frigid weather. The majority of the respondents started swathgrazing in November and grazed for an average of 69 days. The results also showed that swathgrazing was adopted in spring-calving herds, retained enterprise operations and producer-owned land.
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When survey links with honourariums are shared online there is potential for fraudulent responses. CHASR reviewed responses and provided suggestions for possible impostor responses (e.g., same email for honourarium, identical start and/or connection times, no cow-calf enterprise, improbable start dates for swathgrazing, extreme bull:cow ratios).