Interactions between Temperament, Stress, and Immune Function in Cattle

Abstract

The detrimental effects caused by stressors encountered by animals during routine handling can pose economic problems for the livestock industry due to increased costs ultimately borne by the producer and the consumer. Stress adversely affects key physiological processes of the reproductive and immune systems. In recent years stress responsiveness has been associated with cattle behavior, specifically temperament. Cattle with more excitable temperaments, as measured by chute score, pen score, and exit velocity (flight speed), exhibit greater basal concentrations of glucocorticoids and catecholamines. Similar to stressed cattle, more temperamental cattle (i.e., cattle exhibiting greater exit velocity or pen and chute scores) have poorer growth performance, carcass characteristics, and immune responses. Thus, understanding the interrelationship of stress and temperament can help in the development of selection and management practices that reduce the negative influence of temperament on growth and productivity of cattle. This paper discusses the relationship between stress and temperament and the developing evidence of an effect of temperament on immune function of cattle that have been handled or restrained. Specifically, the paper discusses different methodologies used to measure temperament, including chute score, pen score, and exit velocity, and discusses the reaction of cattle to different stressors including handling and restraint. Hindawi Publishing Corporation

The impact of beef cattle temperament assessed using flight speed on muscle glycogen, muscle lactate and plasma lactate concentrations at slaughter

“…Several studies have shown that calm cattle have lower basal levels of catecholamines and serum cortisol than flighty cattle (Burdick, et al, 2010a;Burdick, et al, 2010b;Burdick, Randel, Carroll, & Welsh, 2011;Vann, et al, 2010). Gruber, et al (2010) also demonstrated that epinephrine levels at slaughter were lower in calm cattle.…”

La importancia del temperamento en la producción de ganado de carne bovina

“…Ante la presencia de muchos estresores, el SNS es activado a través de neuronas noradrenérgicas en el cerebro y de neuronas simpáticas postganglionares que inervan los órganos periféricos (ejemplo: Corazón, vasculatura, riñones, intestino y tejido adiposo), secretando de esta forma norepinefrina dentro de la circulación, que aumenta la presión sanguínea y las frecuencias cardiaca y respiratoria (Burdick et al, 2011).…”

“…Estos factores estresantes alteran la homeostasis en el animal, provocando una respuesta adaptativa que es activada en un intento por restaurar el balance a través de una serie de mecanismos fisiológicos que involucran el eje Hipotalámico-Hipofisiario-Adrenal (Moberg, 2000) y dependiendo de la magnitud del estímulo, duración e intensidad de los estresores y la susceptibilidad de los animales hacia ellos, se puede presentar inhibición del sistema inmunológico que predispone posteriormente a que se afecte la fisiología durante el crecimiento y la reproducción en los bovinos (Burdick et al, 2011;Fell et al, 1999).…”

Short communication: In vitro oocyte maturation and fertilization rates in the Spanish Lidia bovine breed

“…In this sense, a previous study showed that hostile animals have lower reproductive performance (Phocas et al, 2006). Moreover, it has been suggested that the main cause of this lower reproductive performance is the greater basal concentrations of glucocorticoids and catecholamines shown in more temperamental cattle, leading to a "stress like" situation (Burdick et al, 2011). Likewise, high genetic selection pressure only for a few specific production traits might have the same deleterious effect on reproductive traits, as it has been demonstrated in high-producing dairy cows (Walsh et al, 2011).…”