Cattle temperament, which describes individual behaviour differences withregard to a stressor or environmental challenge, is known for its impact onworking safety, adaptability to new housing conditions, animalproductivityand for evaluation of animal welfare. However, successful use of temperamentin animal breeding and husbandry to improve keeping conditions in general oranimal welfare in particular, requires the availability of informative andreproducible phenotypes and knowledge about the genetic modulation of thesetraits. However, the knowledge about genetic influences on cattle temperament isstill limited. In this review, an outline is given for the interdependencebetween production systems and temperament as well as for the phenotyping ofcattle temperament based on both behaviour tests and observations ofbehaviour under production conditions. In addition, the use of temperamentas a selection criterion is discussed.
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