Validity and feasibility of qualitative behavior assessment for the evaluation of Nellore cattle temperament

Sant’Anna, Aline Cristina; Costa, Mateus José Rodrigues Paranhos da

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2013.08.004

Cited by 53 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This could simply mean that there are different behaviours that animals exhibit to express their feelings (anxiety, temperament, aggressiveness, excitement and boldness). However, fear is the key to the behaviours shown by animals in certain instances and during cattle handling by humans (Harris & Knowlton, 2001; Sant'Anna & Paranhos da Costa, 2013). Becker et al (2014) Discomfort experienced by animals during lairage and the movement of animals to the point of stunning before death may lead to avoidance behaviours (Grandin, 2006;Von Keyserlingk et al, 2009;Njisane & Muchenje, 2013a;2013b).…”

Section: Non-invasive Assessment Of Methods Of Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

A balanced perspective on animal welfare for improved meat and meat products

Chulayo¹,

Muchenje²

2016

SA J. An. Sci.

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Increased public concern for animal welfare in the logistics chain has led to a rise in the scrutiny of the treatment of food animals. Factors affecting the status of welfare of slaughter animals begin at the farm and occur during transportation and at the abattoir. The activities that animals pass through before slaughter are thought to have negative effects on both the animal and the product. Before or during this period, animals suffer pain, which compromises their physical, health and biochemical status, and meat quality and quantity; which leads to economic losses. Environmental impact plays a role in the behaviour, growth, development and welfare of animals, even though it is associated with the production of greenhouse gases and biodiversity. Food producers are also mindful of the challenges of feeding the ever-increasing human population. Although the issues of animal production, which range from the environment to human health, have been discussed, animal welfare-related factors that are at play in the production chain of farm animals must still be addressed. An understanding of the animal's environment, behaviour and the biochemical interactions that are at play in stressful conditions; and the implications of these for animal health and welfare are key to developing effective mitigation strategies. Therefore, the objective of this review is to highlight the literature on animal welfare, and suggest strategies that could be adopted for the improvement of meat animals, meat quality and meat products. ______________________________________________________________________________________

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Section: Non-invasive Assessment Of Methods Of Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

A balanced perspective on animal welfare for improved meat and meat products

Chulayo¹,

Muchenje²

2016

SA J. An. Sci.

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“…The handling speed was around 120 heads weighed per hour (30 s/animal); thus, the observer had a short time interval to observe each animal individually (for around 5 s) and then describe its body language using a list of adjectives. The list was adapted from Sant'Anna and Paranhos da Costa (2013), from which we eliminated two adjectives ('happy' and 'distressed') and introduced four new ones ('sociable', 'indifferent', 'comfortable', and 'aggressive'), leaving a total of 14 adjectives ('active', 'relaxed', 'fearful', 'agitated', 'calm', 'attentive', 'positively occupied', 'curious', 'irritable', 'apathetic', 'comfortable', 'aggressive', 'sociable', and 'indifferent'). The numbers of adjectives expressing positive and negative aspects of temperament were balanced.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To our knowledge, one of the first studies using an observer rating method to assess cattle temperament was conducted by Sant'Anna and Paranhos da Costa (2013). In that study, the authors compared QBA with four other methods traditionally used to assess cattle temperament: flight speed test, visual scores of movement in the cattle crush, crush score, and a temperament score in a corral pen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using an observer rating method to assess the effects of rotational stocking method on beef cattle temperament over time

et al. 2016

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-The objectives of this study were to propose behavioral-based definitions for the adjectives used in an observer rating method, and to use this approach to characterize temperament over time in cattle kept under rotational stocking method. We also analyzed the feasibility of the rating method under commercial cattle farming conditions. We evaluated the temperament evolution of 1,979 pure and crossbred Nellore young bulls over time on three commercial farms located in Northeastern Pará State, Brazil. All animals were kept under a rotational stocking method. The observer rating method included 14 behaviorally predefined adjectives for which we defined the minimum and maximum scores. The first factor was considered a qualitative temperament index (QTI) ranging from 'relaxed'/'calm'/'comfortable' to 'fearful'/'agitated'. According to the QTI, cattle temperament improved over time. For Farms A and B, QTI decreased over evaluations, and for Farm C, QTI did not differ from the first to the second evaluations, but decreased from the second assessment onwards. The observer rating method consisting of behaviorally pre-defined adjectives is an adequate indicator of cattle temperament that may be feasible under farm conditions. The method captures different aspects of cattle temperament and distinguishes between slight variations in cattle body language that successfully reveal temperament changes over time.

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“…Temperament is a complex trait that comprises various behavioral characteristics such as shyness-boldness, exploration avoidance, activity, sociability, and aggressiveness [6]. A set of subjective methods were first proposed to phenotype temperament, such as temperament scoring of cattle handled in a crush with head bail [1], flight distance [7], docility test [8], chute test [9], and qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) [10]. These subjective methods are able to integrate the various aspects of temperament into a single score and create a standardized test by taking advantage of the experience and interpretation of the human evaluator on cattle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deciphering cattle temperament measures derived from a four-platform standing scale using genetic factor analytic modeling

Hyeong-keun

Morota

Celestino

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: The animal's reaction to human handling, also known as temperament, is critical for work safety, productivity, and welfare. Subjective phenotyping methods, such as docility score, have been traditionally used in cattle production as a means for improving the safety, productivity, and welfare of animals. Even so, subjective scales rely on the evaluator's knowledge and interpretation of temperament, which may require substantial experience. With that being said, selection based on such subjective scores may not precisely impact temperament preferences in cattle.Results: We investigated the statistical relationships among subjective methods including docility score (DS), temperament score (TS), 12 qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) attributes along with a movement-based objective method (four-platform standing scale, FPSS) including the standard deviation of total weight on FPSS over time (SSD) and coefficient of variation of SSD (CVSSD) using 1,528 calves at weaning age. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified two underlying latent variables contribute to TS and 12 QBA attributes that were named difficult and easy according to their characteristics. As DS is evaluated under constraint and other measures are not, inclusion of DS in EFA of subjective methods was not a good fit.A Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis inferred the factor scores of difficult and easy using the latent structure discovered in EFA. This was followed by fitting a pedigree-based Bayesian multi-trait model using difficult, easy, DS, SSD, and CVSSD to characterize the genetic interrelationships between subjective and FPSS measures. The estimates of heritability range from 0.17 to 0.4 with the posterior standard deviation averaging 0.06. The factors of difficult and easy exhibited a large negative genetic correlation of -0.92. DS displayed a moderate genetic correlation with difficult (0.36), easy (-0.31), SSD (0.42), and CVSSD (0.34).FPSS and DS were found to have a moderate genetic correlation with difficult (0.35 to 0.41) and easy (-0.39 to -0.31), indicating selection could be performed with either and have similar outcomes.Conclusions: The application of genetic factor analytic model for temperament measures provided a new approach to unravel the complexity of animal behaviors. In summary, we contend that FPSS measures could increase the efficiency of genetic selection by providing automatic, objective, and consistent phenotyping measures with a lower cost, and may potentially become an alternative of DS which has been widely used in beef production.3

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Validity and feasibility of qualitative behavior assessment for the evaluation of Nellore cattle temperament

Cited by 53 publications

References 36 publications

A balanced perspective on animal welfare for improved meat and meat products

A balanced perspective on animal welfare for improved meat and meat products

Using an observer rating method to assess the effects of rotational stocking method on beef cattle temperament over time

Deciphering cattle temperament measures derived from a four-platform standing scale using genetic factor analytic modeling

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