The selection processes used to improve herd outcomes take many forms. As an industry, culling practices receive plenty of attention <Link>. In recent years docility, often discussed as a behavioral or management trait, is now known to be moderately heritable.
Neogen’s Kirk Ramsey, DVM, offers a view of where docile cattle behavior plays out in herd development and how the animal itself handles the pressure of weaning, hauling, commingling and environmental changes.
Source: Progressive Cattle, June 11, 2026. Link.
Cattle that are calmer and easier to handle generally have better immune function and efficiency than their more excitable counterparts.”
Also see: Life is too short for mean cattle: Why docility is the ultimate profit trait, Drovers, July 10, 2026. Link. Christine Mushrush from Mushrush Red Angus shares they use a scale of one to five measurement of nervousness where one is the most docile. If a bull ranks a five, they go straight to the sale barn. They do the same process with their heifers, using it as a trait to help sort the replacement heifers and culls.
Image: Link.
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