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Animal scientists face an increasing need to communicate with the lay public because of the public's interest in the origin and production of animal-sourced foods. Consumers' increased interest infers a critical need for effective communication skills among animal science graduates. Effective communication skills are mandatory if students are to explain scientific information and mitigate misinformation about livestock production. The purpose of our study was to investigate the communication styles and communication effectiveness of upper-level animal science students enrolled in a beef cattle production and management course at Texas A&M University across five semesters ( N =  241; spring 2018  =  61, summer 2018  =  15, Fall 2018  =  54, spring 2019  =  55, and fall 2019 = 56). Male animal science students ( n  = 25; 32.9%) preferred assertive and direct communication (a driver communication style) and female students ( n  = 32; 19.4%) preferred collaborative and accommodating communication (an amiable communication style). Students were moderately experienced with beef cattle production ( M  = 3.09, SD  = 1.07) before enrolling in the course; however, former beef cattle experiences did not influence their preferred communication style [ F (10, 230) = 0.36, P  = 0.96]. Researchers also observed students' communication skills during an end-of-semester beef cattle production and management project presentation and identified strengths and weaknesses. Students demonstrated strong, in-depth animal industry knowledge, an ability to connect beef production techniques to management success, and critical thinking skills when answering questions. Oral communication skills warranting improvement included integrating visual aids and/or visual slides to support findings, using improved stage presence and confidence, and sharing responsibilities when presenting as a team. Finally, completion of a supplemental communication training module, intended to develop oral communication skills, significantly improved [ F (1, 55) = 4.16, P  = 0.046] students' beef cattle production and management project presentation scores. As students become aware of their communication preferences and tendencies, they become equipped to adjust their communication practices and techniques when needed. Through this study, we gained insight into students' communication tendencies and skills, which can be used to provide curricular recommendations and enhance students' workforce readiness., Competing Interests: This project was supported by Higher Education Challenge Grant no. 2017-70003-2686 from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Subsets of this data were presented at the annual American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) conference in Austin, TX, in July 2019 and at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) conference held virtually in June 2020., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.)

Cow temperament at parturition may be mostly a measure of aggressiveness. The heritability of cow temperament at parturition in Bos taurus cows has been reported to be low. The objectives of this study were to estimate the heritability of cow temperament at parturition, conduct a genome-wide association analysis of cow temperament at the time of parturition, and estimate the correspondence of cow temperament at the time of parturition with cow productive performance and early-life temperament traits in Bos indicus crossbreds. Cow temperament was assessed from 1 to 5 indicating increasing levels of aggressiveness of cows (937 cows and 4,337 parturitions) from 2005 to 2022. Estimates of heritability and repeatability were 0.12 ± 0.024 and 0.24 ± 0.018. The estimates of proportion of phenotypic variance were 0.13 ± 0.019 and 0.02 ± 0.011 for permanent and maternal permanent environmental components, respectively. Estimates of heritability for maximum lifetime temperament score and proportions of temperament scores >1 were 0.18 ± 0.07 and 0.13 ± 0.072. Within cycles (generations), 2-yr-old cows had lower temperament score means than cows in most other age categories. There were low to moderate positive estimates of unadjusted correlation coefficients (r = 0.22 to 0.29; P < 0.05) of unadjusted temperament score with temperament measured on the same females when they were 8 mo old. There were low to moderate positive estimates of correlation coefficients (r = 0.09 to 0.37; P < 0.05) of unadjusted temperament score with calving rate, weaning rate, weaning weight per cow exposed, and weaning weight per 454 kg cow weight at weaning. Cows with the lowest temperament score had lower (P < 0.05) calving and weaning rate than cows in other temperament categories. Within 3 of 5 cycles, cows with the lowest temperament score (totally docile) had lower (P < 0.05) weaning weight per cow exposed than cows in other temperament categories. There were 2 SNP on BTA 4 associated with maximum lifetime temperament score (FDR < 0.05). The non-genetic influence of a cow's mother was documented in her own temperament measured at the time of calving; this may be a consequence of learned behavior. Less aggressiveness displayed by cows at the time of calving may be accompanied by lower reproductive and maternal performance., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This study investigated student ( n = 272) exam grades and group project peer evaluations in a senior-level beef cattle management course during semesters of COVID-imposed transitional instructional delivery methods across the Fall 2019 to Spring 2021 semesters. Each semester identical format exams were administered, and students were assigned to groups of 4 or 5 balanced for previous cattle experience to work on a semester-long on a scenario-based ranch management project. Prior to COVID, exams were administered as closed-note with 1-h time limit, but were made open-note with 12 to 14 h time limit beginning in March 2020. Similar exam grades existed ( P > 0.05) across these five semesters with the exception that Exam 3 deviated 3.7% ( P = 0.020) from lowest to highest mean score; similar relative variation in exam scores based on CV and SD were seen across these semesters. For the group project, students scored all group members on a 0 (inferior) to 10 (superior) scale at the end of each semester that weighted the project grade by 20%. Remote vs. face-to-face ( F2F ) status did not influence ( P > 0.05) group peer evaluation scores regarding "Overall level of participation" or "Willingness to work for success of your group" when group number or individual student was included in models. Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters had both remote and F2F students and were investigated for online page view and engagement. Across these two semesters, students ( n = 125) were 72% females, 36.8% rated themselves as having no or little previous cattle experience, and 34.4% rated themselves as experienced or very experienced with cattle. No metric for online activity was correlated with exam grades, except the number of page views and Exam 3 scores ( r = 0.28, P = 0.002). Neither gender ( P > 0.05) nor previous cattle experience ( P > 0.05) affected online activity metrics, peer evaluation points received on group projects, or exam grades. However, strong correlations ( r = 0.33 to 0.45, P < 0.001) were seen between student peer points received and all four exam grades. Additionally, project group accounted for 28% to 37% of the differences in exam grades. Overall, no differences in exam grades ( P < 0.05 except Exam 3) or group peer evaluations ( P < 0.05) were detected when the course had different delivery styles. These results indicate that attributes of individual students are a major driver of successful course outcomes in this class, no matter what course delivery method is utilized., Competing Interests: The author has no conflict of interest regarding data, results, or interpretation of this manuscript., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.)

In this study, actinin-3 ( ACTN3 ) gene expression was investigated in relation to the feed efficiency phenotype in Bos indicus - Bos taurus crossbred steers. A measure of relative feed efficiency based on residual feed intake relative to predictions from the NRC beef cattle model was analyzed by the use of a mixed linear model that included sire and family nested within sire as fixed effects and age, animal type, sex, condition, and breed as random effects for 173 F 2 Nellore-Angus steers. Based on these residual intake observations, individuals were ranked from most efficient to least efficient. Skeletal muscle samples were analyzed from 54 steers in three groups of 18 (high efficiency, low efficiency, and a statistically average group). ACTN3 , which encodes a muscle-specific structural protein, was previously identified as a candidate gene from a microarray analysis of RNA extracted from muscle samples obtained from a subset of steers from each of these three efficiency groups. The expression of ACTN3 was evaluated by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR analysis. The expression of ACTN3 in skeletal muscle was 1.6-fold greater in the inefficient steer group than in the efficient group ( p = 0.007). In addition to expression measurements, blocks of SNP haplotypes were assessed for breed or parent of origin effects. A maternal effect was observed for ACTN3 inheritance, indicating that a maternal B. indicus block conferred improved residual feed efficiency relative to the B. taurus copy ( p = 0.03). A SNP haplotype analysis was also conducted for m-calpain ( CAPN2 ) and fibronectin 1 ( FN1 ), and a significant breed effect was observed for both genes, with B. indicus and B. taurus alleles each conferring favorable efficiency when inherited maternally ( p = 0.03 and p = 0.04). Because the ACTN3 structural protein is specific to fast-twitch (type II) muscle fibers and not present in slow-twitch muscle fibers (type I), muscle samples used for expression analysis were also assayed for fiber type ratio (type II/type I). Inefficient animals had a fast fiber type ratio 1.8-fold greater than the efficient animals ( p = 0.027). Because these fiber-types exhibit different metabolic profiles, we hypothesize that animals with a greater proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers are also less feed efficient., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Vaughn, Kochan, Torres, Du, Riley, Gill, Herring, Sanders and Riggs.)