The relation between temperament with performance and meat quality was determined in 79 Charolais × Nellore steers kept in feedlot. Temperament was evaluated according to exit velocity, scale composite score and flight distance four times in the finishing phase, along with body weight, intake and feed conversion measures. Cattle were classified as calm, intermediate and excited according to exit velocity measures at the beginning of the trial. Excited cattle presented larger values for composite score and flight distance. Irrespective of genotype, excited cattle presented lower average daily gain, dry matter intake and worse feed conversion. Temperament categories did not affect most of beef quality traits, except for calm Bos indicus steers, which presented greater pH measured 1 hour post mortem compared with more reactive steers. However, moderate but negative correlations were detected between exit velocity, flight distance and composite score and beef quality as well as Warner-Bratzler shear value, luminosity, pH measured 24 hours post mortem, although they were not consistent between genotypes raised under the same conditions

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of lairage periods on the temperament, physiological indicators of stress, and meat quality of beef cattle. Thirty-two castrated Aberdeen Angus x Nellore crossbred steers were distributed into four lairage periods: 12, 18, 24, and 48 hours. The following variables were evaluated: serum levels of the physiological indicators of stress glucose and cortisol (upon arrival at the slaughterhouse, after the lairage period, and at bleeding), animal temperament (movement, resistance to approach, and aggressiveness), and meat quality (final pH, water-holding capacity, color parameters, and tenderness). With a longer lairage period, the temperament score was higher, indicating that the animals were more agitated and resistant to human approach. Serum cortisol and glucose levels correlate positively with animal temperament and negatively with meat quality. At bleeding, an increase was observed in glucose and cortisol levels, respectively, for lairage periods longer than 24 hours and of 12 hours. The lairage of 48 hours reduces meat tenderness and water-holding capacity.

Aspects related to good handling practices have significant impacts on animal behaviour with positive effects on the productivity and profitability of production systems. This study investigated the impact of good handling practices on the modification of stress indicators and the behaviour of beef cattle. Thirty-six male castrated bovines at the growth stage were evaluated for 490 days and submitted to two different production systems in Southern Brazil: good handling practices (GHP) and a traditional handling system of beef-cattle farming (THS). Body weight, reactivity indicators (flight distance and composite behaviour score), and blood indicators of stress (glucose and cortisol) were measured. An analysis of variance was carried out with measurements repeated over time, and Pearson's correlation applied between the variables mentioned above. No differences were found (P>0.05) for body weight in any of the evaluations, with initial weights of 196.2 and 196.3 kg and final weights of 431.0 and 413.8 kg for the GHP and THS steers, respectively. The GHP determined better values for the stress and behavioural indicators compared to THS (P<0.05). The flight distance of the GHP animals decreased from 11.33 to 5.22 metres from the first to the last evaluation, while in the THS animals the values were 10.17 and 11.89 metres, respectively. The behaviour composite score differed in the evaluations at 372 and 490 days, with values of 1.77 and 1.47 for GHP animals and values of 2.92 and 2.83 points for THS animals, respectively. Glucose and cortisol levels decreased with the advancing evaluations in GHP animals, with values from 94.80 to 74.22 mg/dL and from 6.08 to 3.68 µg/dL, respectively. In THS animals, glucose and cortisol levels were similar in the initial and final evaluations, with values of 89.30 and 91.28 mg/dL and 5.34 and 5.80 µg/dL, respectively. Regardless of the handling, the final body weight of the animals correlated negatively with the reactivity indicators and physiological stress indicators. The reactivity of the cattle is influenced by the quality of the human-animal interaction but has no effect on the performance of animals raised on pasture. Good handling practices reduce the reactivity and stress indicators of cattle.

Produção de carne ovina sob a ótica bem-estar animal / Sheep meat production from the perspective of animal welfare

Este trabalho investigou a correlação entre o escore de balança e distância de fuga com os indicadores fisiológicos de estresse e sua relevância para avaliações de bem-estar de bovinos de corte. Comparou-se pesquisa de glicemia plasmática por exame laboratorial com pesquisa em sangue capilar medida por glicosímetro portátil para testar/validar metodologia para bovinos. Foram estudados 36 bovinos distribuídos em dois tratamentos, onde cada animal foi considerado uma unidade experimental. Os grupos foram formados aleatoriamente com 18 bovinos cada, sendo esses avaliados por 490 dias. Foi realizada análise descritiva (média, desvio padrão e coeficiente de variação), análise de medidas repetidas no tempo e estudo de correlação de Pearson seguido de teste de aleatorização. O efeito dos tratamentos foi mensurado pelos indicadores distância de fuga, escore composto de balança, glicemia plasmática, glicemia capilar e cortisol sanguíneo, avaliados em repetições no tempo. Os resultados demonstraram que escore composto de balança e a distância de fuga são medidas moderadamente (0.57414) associadas enquanto escore composto de balança, glicose capilar (0.63870), glicose plasmática (0.63386) e cortisol (0.62329) estão altamente correlacionadas. Escore composto de balança, glicose e cortisol são indicadores confiáveis para determinação do grau de bem-estar dos animais. O glicosímetro portátil demonstrou precisão na determinação dos níveis glicêmicos em bovinos.