This is part of an article by David Kirkpatrick reported in a popular press magazine. I've heard Jim Gosey address this subject many times and thought it would be worth the chips to post.

Convenience traits are those cattle traits that contribute directly to savings in time, facilities, drugs and labor in a cow-calf enterprise.

Temperament. Temperament is a measure of the relative docility, wildness or aggression of an animal toward unfamiliar situations, human handlers or management interventions. Temperament reflects the ease with which animals respond to handling, treatment and routine management.

Udder Soundness. One of the most important functional traits of a beef cow is udder and teat conformation. Beef producers are less likely to consider udder shape and characteristics as would dairy producers, but these attributes affect cow productivity and longevity and should be considered in a beef cow-calf operation.

Structural Soundness. Sound feet and legs are essential in order for a bulls to cover many acres of pasture for mating with cows and obtaining adequate nutrition. Structural soundness is not an all or none situation but expressed in various degrees.

Polledness. Dehorning is a labor intense management practice that requires additional health attention. Polled cattle are less troublesome when working them the possibility of injury to both producer and animal is reduced.

Calving Ease. Assistance at calving is labor intense and can be greatly reduced by selecting herd sires that have below breed average birth weight EPDs or an excellent EPD for calving ease. Also, stress incurred by the cow and calf at birth can lower the resistance of the newborn calf and make it more susceptible to disease and health problems.

Disease and Heat Resistance. There are breed differences in cattle for heat tolerance and disease resistance. The Bos Indicus (Brahman based) cattle are known to be more heat and disease resistant than the British and Continental breeds other than the Senepol breed.

Doing Ability. Doing ability or fleshing ability is a measure of the adaptability of the cattle with their given resources on which to produce. "Hard doers" are those that do not adapt to their given set of resources and require extra attention or feed to produce.