Flight Time

What is Flight Time?

An animal’s flight time is an electronic measure of the time taken for an animal to cover a small distance after leaving the crush. This measurement was developed during research carried out by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Cattle and Beef Quality. The Beef CRC found that animals with a short flight time leave the crush faster and have poorer temperament than animals with a long flight time.

At Rosevale, we have measured the flight time of our weaners for the past four years. We agree with the findings of the Beef CRC and have used these measurements in combination with our judgement to cull animals based on temperament.

The Importance of Temperament

Temperament measures the way that cattle behave when being handled by humans or put in an unusual situation such as being separated from the herd. As a survival trait in the wild, poor temperament is to fear anything unusual or having the desire to escape. In domesticated cattle it is exhibited as flightiness, agitation and excitability. Importantly, temperament is a moderately heritable trait and can be improved by selection.

Flight time is a simple, cost effective and easy to record objective measurement of temperament. Research has shown that in addition to ease of handling and management, animals with a longer flight time also have superior meat tenderness.

Interpreting the results

Flight time measurements taken on our yearling bulls back in November 2006 ranged from 0.61 seconds to 3.08 seconds. There is a big difference in temperament between a measurement of 0.60 seconds and 0.90 seconds with the latter often being the quieter.

In the future, EBVs for flight time will be of more use than the raw figures because they will take environmental factors and measurements of relatives into account.