Abstract
This study evaluated the relationships between supplement intake behavior, beef cattle performance, and grazing behavior on dormant northern mixed-grass rangelands. In each of two years, a commercial herd of bred cows grazed a rangeland pasture from November to January. All cattle were managed as one contemporary group. Calf birth date, birth weight, and adjusted 205-day weaning weight were collected for each cow following the grazing season each year as cow performance metrics. During the grazing season, all cattle were provided free-choice access to a self-fed supplement. Supplement intake behavior was measured for each individual. Grazing behavior was monitored for 30 randomly selected individuals. The relationship of individual average daily supplement intake (R = 0.65; ρ = 0.65), supplement consumption rate (R = 0.58; ρ = 0.54), the coefficient of variation of supplement intake (R = 0.51; ρ = 0.50), and the amount of time spent at the feeder (R = 0.47; ρ = 0.49) were positively correlated and ranked across years (P < 0.01), suggesting individual animal supplement intake behavior is repeatable for cattle grazing dormant season rangelands. Additionally, there were multiple significant associations between supplement intake behavior, cattle performance, and grazing behavior (P ≤ 0.05); however, the majority were weak associations that accounted for minimal variation in cattle performance and grazing behavior (R ≤ 0.27; r2 ≤ 0.07). Although supplement intake behavioral traits were repeatable across years, its use as a metric to predict animal performance and grazing behavior may be limited.
Highlights
Beef cattle temperament has become an increasingly important factor in herd management as it can directly impact average daily gain, feed conversion efficiency, and carcass quality characteristics of feedlot cattle, reflected in the overall economic return to the beef cattle producer (Voisinet et al 1997, Cafe et al 2011, Goodman et al 2016)
This study evaluated the relationships between supplement intake behavior, beef cattle performance, and grazing behavior on dormant northern mixed-grass rangelands
The relationship of individual average daily supplement intake (R = 0.65; ρ = 0.65), supplement consumption rate (R = 0.58; ρ = 0.54), the coefficient of variation of supplement intake (R = 0.51; ρ = 0.50), and the amount of time spent at the feeder (R = 0.47; ρ = 0.49) were positively correlated and ranked across years (P < 0.01), suggesting individual animal supplement intake behavior is repeatable for cattle grazing dormant season rangelands
Summary
Beef cattle temperament has become an increasingly important factor in herd management as it can directly impact average daily gain, feed conversion efficiency, and carcass quality characteristics of feedlot cattle, reflected in the overall economic return to the beef cattle producer (Voisinet et al 1997, Cafe et al 2011, Goodman et al 2016). The same beef cattle temperaments negatively correlated to feedlot performance appear to be unrelated to grazing behavior and animal performance on rangelands (Fordyce et al 1988, Bailey et al 2010, Reeves and Derner 2015). The effect of temperament on beef cattle performance is likely mediated by confinement and human interaction (Reeves and Derner 2015, Goodman et al 2016). Recent research suggests that evaluating a single behavioral trait to determine an animal's overall temperament or evaluating temperament traits relevant to confinement when determining effects of temperament on grazing behavior may not produce meaningful results (Wesley et al 2012, Goodman et al 2016). Studying individual variation in correlated behavior syndromes could provide valuable means of explaining animal to animal productivity differences in rangeland settings (Wesley et al 2012)
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