Temperament can be described as the way that cattle behave when being handled by humans or put in an unusual situation such as being separated from the herd. What we define as poor temperament is a survival trait in the wild – fear of anything unusual and the desire to escape. In domesticated cattle it is exhibited as flightiness. Importantly, temperament is a moderately heritable trait and can be improved by selection.

Flight time is a simple, cost effective and easy to record objective measurement of temperament. Research has shown that in addition to the benefits for ease of handling and management, animals with longer flight time (i.e. better temperament) also have superior meat tenderness.

Interpreting Flight Time EBVs

Flight Time EBVs are estimates of genetic differences between animals in temperament. Flight Time EBVs are expressed as differences in the number of seconds taken for an animal to travel approximately 2.0 metres after leaving the crush.

Higher (i.e. longer) Flight Time EBVs are more favourable. That is, higher Flight Time EBVs indicate a longer time taken to exit the crush and hence better temperament. For example, a bull with a Flight Time EBV of +0.80 would be expected to on average produce progeny that took 0.7 of a second longer to exit the crush than a bull with a Flight Time EBV of -0.60.

For more information regarding Flight Time EBVs, please contact staff at your BREEDPLAN processing centre.