Victoria
Well-known member
With the talk on here lately about calm cattle I thought I'd share a few statements from an article I read today from the Oct. issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine. The title is Temperament, Tenderness and Carcass Quality (Heather Smith Thomas) and it states that easy-going cattle make more profit.
One study was done by Rhonda Vann, animal scientist from Mississippi State Univ. in collaboration with Texas A&M. Her research showed that temperament has a direct effect on weight gain or loss.
Other studies have also been done on this issue, one at Iowa State Univ. figured out the profit/loss from 3 types of animals - docile, restless and agressive. "...The docile cattle gained better and there were more Prime and Choice grades in this group, along with more acceptability for the Certified Angus Beef program. They also had lower mortality rates than cattle in the aggressive category...."
"...Looking at feedlot gain, death loss, costs of treatment, quality, yield grade and other performance criteria, the docile group averaged $62.15 more profit per head than aggressive cattle and $49.09 more profit per head than restless cattle. The aggressive cattle averaged a net loss of $7.26..."
"...Individuals with undesirable temperament are difficult to get close to, upset when confined - likely to crack into the fence - and more difficult to process. Several researchers use excitabilty and movement when measureing temperament, such as how much the animal fights while in the holding chute (some producers call this the "rattle index") and how fast the animal leaves the chute. Cattle with a high exit speed tend to be more temperamental. Vann uses an infared timer to measure each animal's exit speed when leaving the chute. Her research showed that animals coming out of the chute the fastest had poorer carcass quality and were less tender after their 120 days in the feedlot, compared with docile cattle."
One study was done by Rhonda Vann, animal scientist from Mississippi State Univ. in collaboration with Texas A&M. Her research showed that temperament has a direct effect on weight gain or loss.
Other studies have also been done on this issue, one at Iowa State Univ. figured out the profit/loss from 3 types of animals - docile, restless and agressive. "...The docile cattle gained better and there were more Prime and Choice grades in this group, along with more acceptability for the Certified Angus Beef program. They also had lower mortality rates than cattle in the aggressive category...."
"...Looking at feedlot gain, death loss, costs of treatment, quality, yield grade and other performance criteria, the docile group averaged $62.15 more profit per head than aggressive cattle and $49.09 more profit per head than restless cattle. The aggressive cattle averaged a net loss of $7.26..."
"...Individuals with undesirable temperament are difficult to get close to, upset when confined - likely to crack into the fence - and more difficult to process. Several researchers use excitabilty and movement when measureing temperament, such as how much the animal fights while in the holding chute (some producers call this the "rattle index") and how fast the animal leaves the chute. Cattle with a high exit speed tend to be more temperamental. Vann uses an infared timer to measure each animal's exit speed when leaving the chute. Her research showed that animals coming out of the chute the fastest had poorer carcass quality and were less tender after their 120 days in the feedlot, compared with docile cattle."
