Genetic analysis of docility score of Australian Angus and Limousin cattle

Abstract

The temperament of cattle is believed to affect the profitability of the herd through impacting production costs, meat quality, reproduction, maternal behaviour and the welfare of the animals and their handlers. As part of the national beef cattle genetic evaluation in Australia by BREEDPLAN, 50 935 Angus and 50 930 Limousin calves were scored by seedstock producers for temperament using docility score. Docility score is a subjective score of the animal’s response to being restrained and isolated within a crush, at weaning, and is scored on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 representing the quiet and 5 the extremely nervous or anxious calves. Genetic parameters for docility score were estimated using a threshold animal model with four thresholds (five categories) from a Bayesian analysis carried out using Gibbs sampling in THRGIBBS1F90 with post-Gibbs analysis in POSTGIBBSF90. The heritability of docility score on the observed scale was 0.21 and 0.39 in Angus and Limousin, respectively. Since the release of the docility breeding value to the Australian Limousin population there has been a favourable trend within the national herd towards more docile cattle. Weak but favourable genetic correlations between docility score and the production traits indicates that docility score is largely independent of these traits and that selection to improve temperament can occur without having an adverse effect on growth, fat, muscle and reproduction.

Behavioural Traits in Bos taurus Cattle, Their Heritability, Potential Genetic Markers, and Associations with Production Traits

“…There is also a notable variation in estimated heritability observed between different breeds of beef cows [ 37 ]. This is supported by the differences between differences reported by other studies, with heritability of docility varying between Angus and Limousin [ 49 ] and Pirenaica [ 41 ] cattle. This variation can be attributed to innate breed differences and variation in measures and calculation of temperament and /or docility.…”

“…The subjective nature of not only the measurement but of the nomenclature of assessing behavioural traits is demonstrated by a study which reports the temperament of cattle [ 37 ] citing a method used to report docility [ 46 ]. Docility was generally given a subjective score [ 41 , 47 , 48 , 49 ], however, this could be further modelled to include maternal and environmental effects [ 48 ]. Modelling multiple traits to calculate docility was a technique used by Phocas et al, 2006 who reported docility as a linear combination of aggression and escape attempts from an enclosed area [ 50 ].…”

“…Docility scores were found to have no clear correlation with body weight at 200 days or 400 days of age in Angus and Limousin cattle [ 49 ], or with yearling weight of Limousin heifers [ 50 ]. Conversely, a weak favourable association was found between yearling weight and aggression in Limousin heifers [ 50 ].…”

Automated Monitoring of Panting for Feedlot Cattle: Sensor System Accuracy and Individual Variability

“…These cattle received similar treatments on entry to the feedlot as per Experiment 1. Cattle docility scores [ 17 , 48 ] were assessed in 1 to 5 categories based on cattle temperament and behaviour when entering and exiting the crush with a score of 1 being assigned to cattle that were calm and quiet in the crush and on exit, and 5 for cattle that were highly agitated and nervous.…”

Study on the temperament of cows of the Aberdeen Angus cattle breed

“…According to (Riley et al 2016;Costilla et al 2020) the heredity of the temperament is moderate within h 2 = 0.30-0.35. In the opinion of Walkom et al (2016), the heredity parameter for the Aberdeen Angus cattle breed is 0.21. er caregivers. Furthermore, they require to care for a shorter period, and the necessary safety and humane treatment are ensured.…”