Recipient Organization
NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION
9110 E NICHOLS AVE STE 300
CENTENNIAL,CO 80112
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program, funded by the Beef Checkoff and managed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, has provided producer education resources to the cattle industry for decades.The program utilizes a multimedia approach with in-person and online trainings in both printed and video forms. The objective of BQA's application is to further veterinary training through Spanish translation of current BQA resources in addition to development of training videos and learning modules. These bilingual tools will improve veterinarian's training capabilities and worker understanding and safety, resulting in improved animal care and welfare.The objective of this grant is to use a multimedia approach to veterinary training. When the BQA resources and material are translated from English to Spanish, including developing training videos for basic animal care tasks like vaccination or calving care, this provides veterinarians with industry-created tools that can improve consultation and training services. Translation and training video development also improves access to these educational materials as they are presented to a diverse workforce in the cattle industry and can be used in group training. With the majority of the workforce in both beef and dairy industries being foreign-born, primarily having English as a second language, providing effective and practical bilingual training tools to veterinarians will enhance care on the operation, communication with farm workers, and an overall sustainable veterinary business.Once the resources are developed, training workshops at veterinary conferences, veterinary schools, state veterinary medical associations, graduate programs, and youth events will be conducted so veterinarians will be comfortable using these tools and implementing them in practice.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
40%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
The objective of BQA applying for this grant is to use a multimedia approach to veterinary training. When the BQA resources and material are translated from English to Spanish, including developing training videos for basic animal care tasks like vaccination or calving care, this provides veterinarians with industry-created, bilingual tools that can improve consultation and training services. With the majority of the workforce in both beef and dairy industries being foreign-born, primarily having English as a second language, providing effective and practical bilingual training tools to veterinarians will enhance care on the operation, communication with farm workers, and an overall sustainable veterinary business.The goal of providing Spanish language resources to the livestock industry workforce serves an otherwise underserved community. Our aim is to have a national and long-term effect on worker trainings.Provided is a breakdown of the objectives for this project during the three-year time frame.
Project Methods
BQA has partnered with Vivayic, an education development company, for online BQA learning platform for over five years and will continue to utilize their expertise in developing impactful and interactive online learning modules. Content is developed by the BQA team, including a cattle veterinarian, and reviewed by an advisory group made up of veterinarians, animal scientists, producers, and industry professionals.Translation of current materials will be completed by industry leaders who are both native and non-native Spanish speakers. Translators are industry professionals that span dairy, beef, and specialty areas. There is a mix of faculty from extension and veterinary schools in addition to private practitioners who specialize in helping veterinarians and producers optimize and create more value out of their staff by offering resources in Spanish. The extension staff also teach to youth programs that would benefit from these trainings.As mentioned previously, the BQA program has already partnered with various veterinary and producer organizations to provide this cattle production learning platform. This partnership will continue as more materials are produced and made available.Dissemination of Resources: Proposed veterinary conferences that resources and trainings will be presented at include: AABP (annual and Recent Graduate conference, webinar, Have you herd? podcast), AVC (annual meetings), AVMA (annual meeting), state VMAs (virtual or in-person meetings), and other invited veterinary conferences (virtual or in-person). NCBA hosts a monthly webinar series where this will be presented and provided on the NCBA/BQA websites and YouTube channels.In addition, BQA state coordinators are updated at least bi-annually on new training materials. These state coordinators, which includes nearly 10 extension veterinarians, will be integral to sharing this information and training veterinarians in the field. Private practice veterinarians are encouraged to collaborate with BQA state coordinators to host producer meetings and trainings which will impact smaller producers who may not be able to come to state or national meetings. BQA has state coordinators and trainers who are bilingual and they will be used for trainings in the field and for training instructors.Project EvaluationAt the program start, the PI and Program Coordinators will collaborate with extension professionals to develop efficient and appropriate assessments as well as protocols for assessing changed behavior. We will design assessments and protocols to gauge both short, medium, and long term impacts including:Increased awareness of translated materials for use in the cattle industryIncrease in motivation of veterinarians to reach Spanish speaking cattle producers and labor workforceIncrease in satisfaction of on-the-job training of Spanish speaking producers and labor workforceIncreased implementation of translated resources by veterinariansIncreased adoption of cattle care skills by producers and labor trained by veterinariansIncreased opportunities for Spanish speaking producers and labor to be trained using resources developedReduced harm to workers due to increased safety trainingThe PI and Program Coordinators will conduct a review of the objectives and activities of the program to ensure they align with the goals of the project. The evaluation process will serve as a valuable aspect of the project in order to ensure the program is meeting the outlined goals and increasing the number of rural veterinarians. Pre- and post-viewing exams of the learning videos will be conducted at beef and dairy operations, with short-term results (i.e., immediately after viewing) and long-term (i.e., 3-6 months post-viewing) evaluated to assess retention of the information. In addition to the use of assessment tools, the project team will use focus groups to qualitatively collect data on the applicability of the translated resources in the field.Use and Dissemination of Evaluation Information: The team will disseminate the results of the evaluation in the form of an annual review to the USDA Program Officer. We will implement the use of the translated materials by conducting in-person Spanish BQA Trainings. We will share findings and best practices for future implementation at workshops and conferences. The translated resources will be generated to veterinarians through multiple veterinary organizations and the BQA website will house the translated resources.Baseline Metrics: The project team has collected baseline metrics in the form of a needs assessment to appropriately determine the need of the Spanish speaking producers and labor workforce in the cattle industry. The needs assessment consisted of questions pertaining to types of educational practices and resources that are best received by the Spanish speaking population.Tracking: The program coordinators will maintain a database to track the implementation of the resources across the country. The purpose of this tracking is to be able to follow up with cattle operations in order to assess them at the end of the study period to ensure effectiveness, similar to methods described in Reinhardt et al. 2010 using pre- and post-viewing exams of learning videos.