Abstract
Response during routine management procedures can give an indication of an animal's underlying temperament. Flight speed (FS) is an objective measure of temperament in beef cattle. However, no work to date has investigated the relationship between FS and subjective measures of temperament in dairy cattle. The aims of this study were to: a) evaluate the reliability of the FS and crush score (CS) test by repeated measurements, b) examine the correlation of FS and CS with reactivity responses in a human approach test (HAT). The study was approved by the SAC animal ethics committee. FS and CS measurements for 55 Holstein-Friesian heifers were repeated three times at 4-week intervals. Heifers were tested at random. Flight response to a HAT was assessed in the passageway of the home-pen on a subset of 33 animals. On completion of the HAT, an assessment of six qualitative terms (at ease, friendly, bold, docile, shy, fear and nervous) were marked on a visual analogue scale according to a subjective judgement of whether a cow scored low or high for each term. Correlations between the three monthly repetitions of FS measurements were all significant (FS1,2: rs=0.36, P=0.007; FS2,3: rs=0.31, P=0.002; FS1,3: rs=0.47, P<0.001) which may indicate individual consistency. No significant correlations between the three monthly repetitions of CS measurements were found. FS was moderately correlated with HAT flight response (rs=0.43, P<0.05). Furthermore, FS positively correlated with qualitative terms at ease (rs=0.46, P<0.01), friendly (rs=0.49, P<0.01), bold (rs=0.43, P<0.05) and docile (rs=0.48, P<0.01) and negatively correlated with nervous (rs= -0.53, P<0.01), shy (rs= -0.42, P<0.05) and fear (rs= -0.54, P<0.01). However, no significant correlations existed between the HAT and the CS. In conclusion, the significant correlations between subjective HAT measures and objective FS show that either technique can be used for assessing temperament in these handling situations.