A STUDY OF CATTLE "TEMPERAMENT" AND ITS 



MEASUREMENT. 



By Arthur F. Pott, 

 State Normal School, Stevens Point, Wisconsin. 



INTRODUCTION.* 



The present phase of this problem has been evolved from an 

 attempt to correlate the so-called "dairj^ temperament" with 

 milk production. The term "dairy temperament" was first 

 promulgated by Ex-Gov. Hoard of Wisconsin in 1886, in a 

 lecture on "Nervous or Dairy Temperament in Cattle." He 

 called it a predisposing tendency in the animal to convert its 

 food either into milk or flesh." He called that temperament 

 pertaining to dairy cattle, "dairy temperament." A later 

 definition of the term was expressed by Prof. Haecker, of Minn. : 

 "An animal whose nervous system dominates the vital system, 

 has the inherited tendency to convert the nutriment in food 

 into milk." " Dairy temperament" today, is one of the strong- 

 est points of the dairy cow score card. The term and its defini- 

 tion are based on indications only, such as "eye full and 

 expressive," "clean face," "large nostrils," "long, light neck," 

 "sharp withers," "prominent spinal column," etc. 



The word "temperament" is perhaps a rather ambiguous 

 term to apply to cattle, but it was employed, no doubt, for 

 want of a better word. The usual definition of the word char- 

 acterizes it as a mental condition, or "special t^^pe of mental 

 constitution and development or mixture of characteristics, 

 supposed to have its basis in the bodily organism and to be 

 transmissible by inheritance,"! or again a "natural disposition." 

 Speaking of disposition, psychologically it is a "tendency left 

 behind by an experience, to give rise on suitable stimulation, to 

 a reaction which shows the influence of that experience, espe- 

 cially as applied to explain the phenomena of memory." The 



*This paper embodies the essentials of a thesis submitted for the degree of 

 Master of Science in Agriculture, the work for which was carried out under the 

 direction of Professor C. S. Plumb, Head of the Animal Husbandry Department of 

 the Ohio State University. 



The writer also wishes to express his appreciation to the following, for their 

 valuable suggestions and criticisms: Profs. Wm. M. Barrows, G. F. Arps and 

 A. P. Weiss, Ohio State University. 



jFunk and Wagnalls, New Standard Dictionary, 1914. 



129 



