Stabiliser cattle Temperament – The Economics of Docility

Despite agriculture employing just one per cent of the British workforce, as an industry it is responsible for 20 per cent of fatal workplace accidents – the highest proportion of any sector.

Although accidents in farming happen across the board, such as when operating heavy plant or driving vehicles off-road, a fair number of injuries and even fatalities occur when working with cattle.

And it isn’t just stockmen or women who are at risk. Vets can often end up being injured in the line of duty when trying to treat cattle, and there have been some particularly high-profile cases of members of the public being trampled when walking through fields where cattle are grazing.

With such pressures coming to bear, it is little wonder many farmers are beginning to look at the more docile breeds to make their own lives easier and safer, and to reduce the risk to others.

In this article, we look at why this not only adds up from a health and safety point of view but also financially.

Feed efficiency

Of course, docility is not just a factor in safety, as important as that is. Docile cattle also utilise more of their feed rations for what they’re meant for – creating protein – rather than burning off calories by acting up.

Studies in the US have also shown that reproductive performance positively correlates with docility. Essentially, this means that more docility cows produce more calves over their lifetime than those with a higher level of reactiveness, stress, and aggression.

When you combine these with the fact that docile cattle are less likely to injure themselves and therefore require less veterinary attention and treatment, a picture emerges that shows they are not just good for your health, they good for your pocket as well.

Docility bred into them

Stabiliser cattle have been specifically and continuously bred to exhibit a package of traits that make them the most efficient and profitable suckler animals available today.

Selecting for traits such as moderate size, improved feed efficiency, comfortably being able to calve at two, smaller calves, quick growth rate, quicker finishing times for youngstock, has created a performance animal that fairs very well on marginal ground, finishes on forage, and is easier to manage than an average suckler cow or bull.

By selecting for these traits, the breed has naturally become more docile as it has developed, and along with being polled, this makes it one of the easiest breeds to manage.

But docility hasn’t just been a by-product of trying to create an efficient suckler cow – docility has a medium to high heritability rate, meaning by selecting the right cattle to breed from, you can shape a breed’s temperament over a relatively short period of time.

This is what breeders in the US have been doing for decades, and our network of multipliers in the UK is continuing to refine.

Seth Waring, Business Manager of the Stabiliser Cattle Company, said docility was one of the traits the breed’s originators wanted to establish early on because ease of management was a key factor in creating a truly commercial herd.

He said: “Although in certain circles there is a level of machismo attached to having huge, heavily-muscled and aggressive bulls, the reality is that more docile breeds have more to offer the commercial farmer.

“From a financial point of view, docility equates to better feed efficiency, higher fertility, lower vet bills, and less equipment and housing damage.

“But it also means much less risk to life and limb. Aggressive bulls and cows are a real risk to the people who come into contact with them, either professionally or via leisure activities, and they perpetuate these qualities in their progeny which can cause major problems, as well as performing sub-optimally as a commercial animal.

“In the worse cases, they can even have career-shortening consequences for those managing them, which can be disastrous for farmers who need to be physically fit to run their businesses.”

One farmer who is benefitting from the docility of Stabilisers is Dick Roper.

Dick runs a herd of 160 Stabiliser cattle on his 3,800-acre organic farm at Eastington, near Northleach in Gloucestershire, after having changed from a traditional herd of Angus x Simmental last year.

He described it as a ‘very commercial decision’ to go with the breed.

Dick said: “Slaughterhouses are wanting lighter stuff now.

“Stabilisers produce a good quality, medium-sized carcass, which is what the market is favouring.

“Temperament was a big selling point too. They are unbelievably docile, the bulls as well, and they have good feet. I’m very happy with them.”

Another farmer who recently swapped to Stabilisers is Richard Roderick, the Farmers Weekly’s 2015 Sheep Farmer of the Year.

Richard, of Newton Farm, near Brecon in Powys, wanted a more efficient system utilising hardier, more docile animals, but the decision to go with Stabilisers happened after one of his Limousin cows caught him, leaving him with a broken thumb and needing 12 stitches to his head.

Richard said: “We wanted to head towards a self-replacing herd that was docile and we could be in control of our replacements.

“The Stabiliser seemed to fit the bill so we quietly went down that road and we’ve been very pleased.”

Seth added that with the markets beginning to favour smaller animals, and reducing BPS payments now beginning to bite, there was a mounting case for looking beyond the standard breeds for better performance.

He said: “Docility is just one piece of the jigsaw. It drives economic gains, for sure, but there are many other factors at play.

“Stabilisers have been selected for performance through data.

“This not only means we know how the breed as a whole performs, it means we can reliably select the best individual animals for a farmer’s herd and predict what traits it will bring to that herd with a very high level of confidence.

“This and the ease of handling means Stabilisers have the ability to transform the viability of a farm and the working life of the farmer.”

For more information about Stabiliser cattle, get in touch on (01377) 227790 or email info@stabiliser.co.uk.