Attitudinal survey of Tennessee beef producers regarding evacuation during an emergency

R D. Linnabary
John C. New Jr., University of Tennessee - Knoxville
R F. Hall
E H. Usrey

Abstract

This survey was made to determine the requirements for evacuation of beef cow/calf producers in a natural or man made disaster. 60 producers were interviewed to answer questionaires which are given in the appendix of this paper. It was found that given 1 h to evacuate, 58 (96.7%) of the farmers would do so. However 2 would not because the order lacked credibility if given by police or National Guard personnel. Orders to evacuate on the broadcast media were also thought to lack credibility by 13 producers, which would be even less if 12 h notice was given. The welfare of these animals came third after family safety and home and farm security. The consideration of the welfare of the animals was related to the season of the year, whether the animals were housed or not and availability of food. With 12 h notice some producers would take their most valuable animals off the farm, but others would give priority to neighbours in the area. It was concluded that there was a serious lack of communication between the farmers and the emergency planners.