Calm
Cattle Are More Reliable
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by Heather Smith Thomas
Temperament and disposition is often overlooked by breeders and feedlot
buyers, yet this is an important trait in beef cattle selection, affecting
all phases of the cattle industry from cow/calf producer to packer.
A cow that’s hard to handle requires more labor and maintenance—fixing
fences and facilities behind her—and makes the cowboy’s
job more hazardous. Her calves are flighty and don’t gain as
well in the feedlot. Several recent studies have shown that disposition
is an economic trait.
Dr. Ron Randel, livestock scientist at the Texas Agricultural Experiment
Station, performed stress studies from 1998 through 2003 to help beef
producers reduce production costs and increase product consistency.
Randel was part of a research team looking at stress indicators in
cattle and how they relate to everything from weight gain and carcass
quality to future health problems. Several of their studies showed
similar results, with Angus and Braford calves in a cooperative study
with University of Georgia in the fall of 2002, and another study
at the experiment station in Texas, and an independent study by Australian
researchers.
To give an objective rating of an animal’s temperament, the
Texas researchers clocked the calf’s exit speed, using motion
detectors that clocked each animal’s speed when coming out of
a handling chute. Docile calves had an average exit speed of about
6 feet per second, while wilder calves exited at about 9 feet per
second. This gave a numerical measurement that corresponded with the
individual’s excitability and handling tolerance. These scores
were compared with how the cattle performed in the feedlot.
There was a noticeable difference between the performance of calm
cattle and excitable cattle. In the first 50 days after weaning, calves
with bad temperament did not gain at all, losing an average of 11
pounds. The calves with docile temperament kept gaining like they
were still nursing their mothers, with an average gain of 30 pounds,
said Randel. He explained that even if a set of wild, flighty calves
weans off at good weight, the feedlot buyer will find them more expensive
to own than a similar weight set of calm, easy-going cattle.
Iowa State University Extension Specialist Darrell Busby manages Iowa’s
Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity and was involved in a study that
evaluated disposition in relation to feedlot performance and carcass
data on 13,530 cattle that were fed in eight Iowa feedlots during
2002 through 2004. The calm, docile cattle consistently performed
better and earned higher grid premiums, while the nervous, wild and
aggressive calves had higher feed-to-gain ratio, more carcass quality
discounts and higher rate of death loss.
The calm ones spent more time at the feed bunks while the nervous
calves spent more time at the back of the pen.
The study showed that wild and aggressive cattle had a 1.8 percent
increase in feed to gain ratio and a decreased gain of 0.25 pounds
per day. Calm cattle had a much higher quality grade premium, fewer
dark cutters, less treatment costs or death loss, and brought an additional
$38 per head profit, based on value-based pricing. Higher quality
carcass grades are easier to obtain with calm cattle; wild and aggressive
cattle are more likely to grade Select or Standard. Busby said that
gentle disposition Angus-based calves are twice as likely to make
the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) brand than their aggressive counterparts.
Temperament is a combination of genetics and environment (management).
Even though some breeds tend to be flightier than others, there are
nervous and calmer individuals in every breed; the rancher can select
for calmer bloodlines. Some bulls consistently sire “snortier”
offspring, and should not be used in a breeding program. Care should
also be taken when handling cattle because rough and thoughtless handling
during routine management activities and processing can make calm
cattle wild. ©
