3 Breed Matters: Consistency of Bull Temperament across Time and Relationship between Temperament and Productivity. (1st March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Park, R M; Toro, G; Daigle, C L
• Is Part Of: Journal of animal science. Volume 96(2018)Supplement 1
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 2
• Publication Date: 2018-03-01
• Subjects: Beef cattle -- Temperament -- Productivity; Livestock -- Periodicals; Livestock; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 636.005
• DOI: 10.1093/jas/sky027.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-8812

Abstract

Abstract: As temperament is a moderately heritable trait, temperament scoring of bulls allows producers to utilize bull behavior in purchasing decisions. Temperament may also impact productivity. The objective of this study was to quantify whether bull temperament evaluated at the beginning and end of a bull gain test were consistent, whether consistencies of temperaments vary across breed and if bull temperament is associated with average daily gain (ADG). A visual pen score (PS) and exit velocity (EV) were collected on Day 0 (Initial) and Day 120 (Final) of a bull gain test from a total of 358 bulls across 10 breeds. Bulls varied in ranch origin; however, all were maintained at the same facility and managed the same throughout the duration of the bull gain test. Bulls were housed in single breed groups at the facility. Temperament index scores (TI) were calculated by averaging PS and EV for each individual bull. Across all breeds, Initial and Final TI was moderately repeatable (PROC CORR; r= 0.47, P< 0.0001) and Final TI was negatively associated with ADG (r= -0.29, P< 0.0001). Breeds differed in the strength of relationship between Initial TI and Final TI. Initial and Final TI were positively associated (P< 0.05) for Angus (r= 0.70, n= 30), Red Angus (r= 1.0, n= 29), Simmental x Angus (r= 0.48, n= 54), Beefmaster (r= 0.46, n= 36), Brahman (r= 0.48; n= 32) and Simbrah (r= 0.55, n= 33) while Brangus (r = 0.20, n= 51), Braunviech (r= 0.23, n= 16), Charloais (r= 0.12, n= 16), Santa Gertrudis (r = 0.05, n= 17), Simmental (r= 0.56, n= 11) and Waygu (r= 0.65, n= 6) were not (P> 0.05). Breeds differed in the strength of relationship of Final TI and ADG. Final TI and ADG were negatively associated (P< 0.05) for Brangus (r= -0.29, n= 52), Braunviech (r= -0.51, n= 16) and Simmental x Angus (r= -0.29, n= 56) but a relationship was not observed for the remaining breeds. A GLM model (PROC MIXED) identified an interaction between Breed and Day for TI (P= 0.001) where Final TI was lower for Brahman (P= 0.01), Charolais (P= 0.04), Santa Gertrudis (P= 0.0005), Simmental x Angus (P= 0.008) and Simbrah (P< 0.0001). These results suggest that breed may influence the capacity for behavioral plasticity and temperament change.