Collecting Docility Scores

Docility is a score describing the temperament of an individual animal, recorded between 60 and 400 days of age, typically at the same time as weaning weights. Recording at weaning minimises variation due to prior handling, providing a more consistent assessment of natural temperament. An animal’s temperament strongly relates to its handling experience and frequency. Recording docility helps identify animals with an undesirable temperament so they can be removed from the breeding program, improving ease of handling and the safety of the working environment. 

Recording Docility 

Docility can be scored in half points and submitted with the Animal ID to the Australian Wagyu Association (AWA) along with performance data. Completed templates should be submitted to the AWA performance email for processing.  

The expected behaviours for each score are: 

Score
Code
Description
1
Docile 
Mild disposition, gentle and easily handled, stands and moves slowly during handling, undisturbed, settled, somewhat dull, exits crush calmly.
2
Restless 
Quieter than average but slightly restless, may be stubborn during handling, may try to back out of crush, some flicking of tail, exits crush promptly.
3
Nervous
Manageable but nervous and impatient, a moderate amount of struggling, movement and tail flicking, exits crush briskly. 
4
Flighty
Jumpy and out of control, quivers and struggles violently, may bellow and froth at mouth, continuous tail flicking, defecates and urinates during handling, frantically runs the fenceline and may jump when penned individually, exhibits long flight distance and exits crush wildly.

5
Agressive
May be similar to score 4 but with added aggressive behaviour, fearful, extreme agitation, continuous movement which may include jumping and bellowing while in crush, exits crush frantically and may exhibit attack behaviour when handled alone.
 

Help Hints: 

  • Score all animals in the contemporary group on the same day to avoid biased results. 
  • Use a consistent scoring method and ideally the same person for all animals. 
  • Variation within the group is necessary. If all are scored “Docile,” the trait cannot be analysed. 
  • Consider docility management groups for animals with different prior handling, as this can influence temperament scores and affect comparability within the group.  

Note – Docility scores are not currently analysed in the WBV evaluation but may be in the future.  

 

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