Effect of Grouping Feedlot Steers by Temperament on Performance and Carcass Traits

Cattle temperament is correlated with liveweight gains during feedlotting (Voisinet et al., 1997) ie. cattle that are nervous and flighty (poor temperament) do not perform as well as those that are quiet and docile (good temperament). This experiment investigated the effect of grouping into feedlot pens cattle of good temperament, poor temperament and mixed (some good and some poor) temperament on average daily gain (ADG), body condition score (CS), feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and various carcase traits. Animal production for a consuming world : proceedings of 9th Congress of the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies [AAAP] and 23rd Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Animal Production [ASAP] and 17th Annual Symposium of the University of Sydney, Dairy Research Foundation, [DRF]. 2-7 July 2000, Sydney, Australia.

Effects of Grouping Feedlot Steers with a Range of Flight Speeds on Liveweight and Temperament Changes

Poor temperament cattle that are nervous and flighty do not perform as well in feedlots as good temperament cattle that are quiet and docile (Burrow and Dillon, 1997). There are contradictory anecdotal reports from industry about the effect of mixing cattle of different temperament on subsequent performance and temperament. Supposedly the presence of a few docile cattle in a feedlot pen-group will have a ‘calming’ effect on flighty pen-mates or the presence of a few flighty animals will ‘upset’ a group of quiet cattle. These hypotheses were tested using data in the experiment described by Petherick et al. (2000) where cattle were grouped into feedlot pens of good temperament, poor temperament and mixed (some good and some poor) temperaments. Animal production for a consuming world : proceedings of 9th Congress of the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies [AAAP] and 23rd Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Animal Production [ASAP] and 17th Annual Symposium of the University of Sydney, Dairy Research Foundation, [DRF]. 2-7 July 2000, Sydney, Australia.