The NAHMS Beef '97 Study was designed to provide both participants and the industry with information on the nation's cow-calf population for education and research. The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) collaborated with NAHMS to select a statistically-valid sample yielding 2,713 producers from 23 states. The 23-state target population represented 85.7 percent of U.S. beef cows on January 1, 1997, and 77.6 percent of U.S. beef operations. Federal and state Veterinary Medical Officers (VMO's) and Animal Health Technicians (AHT's) collected data for this report on-farm from March 3, 1996, through May 23, 1997, from 1,190 operations that had five or more beef cows on January 1, 1997. Contact For This Paper: David Dargatz