Tue Oct 14 2025

Dr. Schwanke begins by describing how we can shape cattle personalities through handling and management and adapting our strategies to accommodate different personality traits so as to not cause undue stress. Personality traits are consistent across time and context, which is nuanced by the other animals in a particular group. There are five generally recognized personality traits: boldness, exploration, activity, sociability and aggressiveness. Some debate exists as to whether dominance should be considered a sixth trait or if it’s just an outcome of the other five. (5:43)