21: Introduction to Breeding Programs

Question 1

What is temperament

Answer 1

Response of an animal to human presence or human handling attributing these reactions to general aspects of fearfulness

Question 2

What factors affect cattle temperament

Answer 2

Genetic and Environmental
Breed, gender, age, production system, experience, habituation

Question 3

Poor temperament (high reactivity) is associated with…

Answer 3

• higher risk of accident and injuries for humans and animals
• increased workload for cattle handling
• lower productive performance
• reduced meat and carcass quality
• reduced animal welfare

Question 4

How do we determine if differences in temperament are due to genetic differences?

Answer 4

• evaluate response to artificial selection
• breed differences
• identify genes associated with variation in temperament
• estimate genetic parameter for temperament

Question 5

Ways of measuring cattle temperament

Answer 5

• behavioural tests
• visual scores
• qualitative behaviour assessment
• automated assessment methods (accelerometers)
• physiological parameters

Question 6

When rating an animals temperament, they can be rated for…

Answer 6

Movement score in the chute
Tension score in the chute
Crush score
Flight speed
Pen score

Question 7

What is flight speed

Answer 7

Measure the speed (m/s) at which each animal left the squeeze chute after weighing, and considered faster animals to have poorer temperaments

Question 8

What is pen score

Answer 8

Assessing the animals reaction in a corral pen after weighing, ascribing scores from 1 (walks slowly in proximity to observer) to 5 (runs during assessment, aggresses observer)

Question 9

Uhhh idk look at slides

Answer 9

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