Disposition

Convenience Trait or Economically Important?

Abstract

Disposition or temperament of cattle is a measure of the animal's relative docility, wildness, and handling ability during processing in the pen as well as in the handling facilities. Easily excitable animals compromise both their own safety and the safety of handlers. The Iowa Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity collects sires, dams, and birth dates from cow-calf producers who retain ownership, as well as growth data, health treatments, disposition scores, and complete carcass data on steers and heifers. In the last 10 years data has been collected on 66,620 head of cattle from 23 states and Manitoba. Cattle are disposition scored at on-test, reimplant, and first sort; the cattle in the second harvest group are scored one additional time. Based on their average disposition score, the cattle were grouped as docile, restless, and aggressive.

When compared to docile cattle, aggressive cattle gained less in the feedlot (2.91 vs 3.17 lb/day; 1.32 vs 1.44 kg/day), produced fewer Choice carcasses (58.1 vs 72.4%), more Select carcasses (36.2 vs 23.3%), and the black-hided cattle produced a lower percentage of Certified Angus Beef (CAB) carcasses (14.3 vs 29.1 %). Morbidity rates were similar across disposition scores; however, death loss increased significantly as disposition scores increased. Non-replacement heifers had higher disposition scores than steer mates, as cow-calf producers selected for more docile replacement heifers. Average profit for docile cattle was $46.63 per head compared to $7.62 per head for aggressive cattle.