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Relationships between temperament and a range of performance, carcass, and meat quality traits in young cattle were studied in 2 experiments conducted in New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA), Australia. In both experiments, growth rates of cattle were assessed during backgrounding on pasture and grain finishing in a feedlot. Carcass and objective meat quality characteristics were measured after slaughter. Feed intake and efficiency during grain finishing were also determined in NSW. Brahman (n = 82 steers and 82 heifers) and Angus (n = 25 steers and 24 heifers) cattle were used in the NSW experiment. In NSW, temperament was assessed by measuring flight speed [FS, m/s on exit from the chute (crush)] on 14 occasions, and by assessing agitation score during confinement in the crush (CS; 1 = calm to 5 = highly agitated) on 17 occasions over the course of the experiment. Brahman (n = 173) and Angus (n = 20) steers were used in the WA experiment. In WA, temperament was assessed by measuring FS on 2 occasions during backgrounding and on 2 occasions during grain feeding. At both sites, a hormonal growth promotant (Revalor-H, Virbac, Milperra, New South Wales, Australia) was applied to one-half of the cattle at feedlot entry, and the Brahman cattle were polymorphic for 2 calpain-system markers for beef tenderness. Temperament was not related (most P > 0.05) to tenderness gene marker status in Brahman cattle and was not (all P > 0.26) modified by the growth promotant treatment in either breed. The Brahman cattle had greater individual variation in, and greater correlations within and between, repeated assessments of FS and CS than did the Angus cattle. Correlations for repeated measures of FS were greater than for repeated assessments of CS, and the strength of correlations for both declined over time. Average FS or CS for each experiment and location (NSW or WA × backgrounding or finishing) were more highly correlated than individual measurements, indicating that the average values were a more reliable assessment of cattle temperament than any single measure. In Brahman cattle, increased average FS and CS were associated with significant (P < 0.05) reductions in backgrounding and feedlot growth rates, feed intake and time spent eating, carcass weight, and objective measures of meat quality. In Angus cattle, the associations between temperament and growth rates, feed intake, and carcass traits were weaker than in Brahmans, although the strength of relationships with meat quality were similar.

The objectives of this study were to use genotypes for 12 commercially available GeneSTAR gene markers on 12,330 animals to estimate gene frequencies of the markers across a range of beef cattle breeds and to determine the effects of these markers on target traits using a subset of animals with both genotypic and phenotypic data (n = 9,414) for at least one trait. Tenderness markers (T1, T2, T3, T4) were assessed against shear force of 2 muscles, marbling markers (M1, M2, M3, M4) were assessed against intramuscular fat percent and marbling score, and the feed-efficiency markers (N1, N2, N3, N4) were assessed on daily feed intake and residual feed intake. Animals used were from 5 beef cattle research populations: Beef Cooperative Research Centre 1 (CRC1) temperate breeds (Angus, Hereford, Murray Grey, Shorthorn; n = 3,721), Beef CRC1 tropical breeds (Brahman, Santa Gertrudis, Belmont Red; n = 3,899), Beef CRC2 tropically adapted genotypes (Brahman and Tropical Composite; n = 4,446), and progeny test programs in Angus (n = 742) and Shorthorn (n = 347). Gene frequencies varied significantly across breeds and markers, with 86% of the markers estimated to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Tenderness markers T1 and T2 had significant effects (P < 0.0001) on shear force, with the size and direction of effects consistent across the range of breeds for the 3 populations with phenotypes. However, sizes of marker effects differed across muscles and reduced upon tenderstretch hanging. Marker T3 was not significant (P > 0.05) in CRC1 temperate breeds but was significant (P < 0.0001) in tropically adapted breeds, with a large effect in Brahman. Marker T4 was significant for shear force in 2 CRC1 tropical breeds but with a different favorable allele. The 4 marbling markers were generally not significantly associated with intramuscular fat percent or marbling score across the 5 populations studied. Feed-efficiency markers N3 and N4 were significantly associated with residual feed intake and daily feed intake in the CRC1 temperate data set, in which a subset of the CRC1 data was used in their discovery, but were not significant in the other 4 populations. Markers N1 and N2 were generally not significant, but when they were significant, their direction of effects differed. The 12 GeneSTAR markers were studied in populations consisting of different breeds and genetic variability and showed gene frequencies and estimated effects that varied greatly across traits, suggesting large differences between the markers for their utility as selection tools in these populations.