Temperament in Cattle: A Method of Evaluation and Main Characteristics

Abstract

A technique for evaluation of the temperament of cattle individuals has been proposed. It is based on the results of observation and three simple tests allowing one to characterize different aspects of higher nervous activity; three-point scales are used in each test. Combinations of the obtained summarized estimates make possible well-grounded classification of temperament of the examined animals according to the generally accepted scheme, namely animals with strong balanced mobile, strong balanced inert, strong imbalanced, and weak types of higher nervous activity. The proposed technique has been tested on a group of cows of the Ukrainian Black Pied dairy breed (n = 78); the respective distributions have been obtained.