The role of behavior in cattle production: A review of research

Beef and dairy cattle comprise a major portion of animal agriculture. Traditionally, animal and dairy sciences have been divided into the disciplines of physiology, nutrition and animal breeding. Increased production efficiency should result from the incorporation of present knowledge of behavior into animal and dairy science educational programs and implementing more behavior research. Management systems would be designed to match more closely the behavioral “needs” of cattle. A discussion of the literature was presented to support the thesis that the behavior of cattle has a genetic component and is non-randomly organized in time and space. This review was intended to demonstrate that emphasis on these principles of behavior by persons in traditional animal science disciplines would increase efficiency of production and guide research into more beneficial directions.