Temperament Does Not Affect Steer Weight Gains on Extensively Managed Semiarid Rangeland

Abstract

On the Ground
• Cattle with poor temperaments gain less weight in
feedlots. However, how yearling steer temperament
affects weight gain on rangelands is a knowledge
gap for ranchers.
• Flight speed, the speed at which cattle exit a chute
after weighing, has been used to measure temperament
in past feedlot studies (faster speed = poor
temperament). We used flight speed scores in this
study to measure yearling steer temperament at the
beginning (mid-May) and end (early-October) of
grazing seasons for 3 years: 2011–2013.
• We hypothesized that steer weight gains on
extensively managed semiarid rangeland with low
stocking densities (~0.11–0.15 steers/ha) would
not be influenced by temperament due to the much
lower animal densities and fewer handling events
than experienced in feedlots.
• No meaningful relationships were found between
season-beginning or season-ending flight speed
score and steer average daily gain, and flight speed
scores were often lower at the end of the season.
• Results suggest that ranchers operating stocker
enterprises with extensive management and low
stocking densities on rangelands can potentially be
less selective for temperamentwhen assembling herds.

Keywords: cattle, flight speed, behavior, shortgrass
steppe.