Pay respect to the elders: age, more than body mass, determines dominance in female beef cattle

Šárová, Radka; Špinka, Marek; Stěhulová, Ilona; Ceacero, Francisco; Šimečková, Marie; Kotrba, Radim

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.10.002

Cited by 71 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…In some situations, dominance becomes an impediment for low-level cows seeking unrestricted access to resources, and it also increases the number of agonistic interactions in the herd (Coimbra et al, 2012). The general determining factors in the social hierarchy of cows are age and weight (Sárová et al, 2013). These factors were confirmed in the present study in that multiparous cows had priority access to resources most of the time.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Diurnal behaviors and herd characteristics of dairy cows housed in a compost-bedded pack barn system under hot and humid conditions

Pilatti

Vieira

Rankrape

et al. 2019

animal

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With international demand for production systems aimed at thermal comfort and animal welfare, milk producers have become increasingly interested in compost barns. However, doubts about the behavioral aspects of cows in tropical and subtropical climates remain, because the compost barn system offers a larger bed area per animal at a lower stocking rate. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the diurnal behaviors, hygiene and lameness of crossbred dairy cows are influenced by different number of lactations when housed in a compost-bedded pack barn system under hot and humid conditions. Crossbred cows (Holstein and Jersey), which were divided into two treatments based on number of lactations (primiparous and multiparous cows), were evaluated during lactation (n=12). The study was conducted from September 2015 to February 2016 in a compost barn in the southwest region of the state of Paraná, Brazil. Daytime behavior was observed between milking schedules using focal observations with 0/1 sampling. Cow hygiene and lameness were evaluated using subjective scores ranging from 1 to 4 and 1 to 5, respectively. Animal behavior and welfare was analyzed using Bayesian inference with a mixed effects model. The probabilities of dyspnea and pushing behaviors were higher (P<0.05) in multiparous cows, and the probability increased during the hottest hours of the day. For both multiparous and primiparous cows, the agonistic behaviors of pushing, butting and chasing peaked during the afternoon. Eating behaviors had the highest likelihood values (0.8 at 0800 h). The cows preferred to remain lying down in the morning, while rest and standing rumination were preferred in the afternoon. Primiparous cows were cleaner than multiparous cows, and the hygiene score for this group was significantly lower (P<0.05). The hygiene and lameness scores for all animals were low, and the highest scores were 1 and 2. In conclusion, multiparous cows exhibited more frequent agonistic behaviors during the hottest hours of the day. Regarding hygiene and lameness scores, multiparous cows exhibited a higher degree of dirtiness compared with the primiparous cows.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Diurnal behaviors and herd characteristics of dairy cows housed in a compost-bedded pack barn system under hot and humid conditions

Pilatti

Vieira

Rankrape

et al. 2019

animal

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“…Šárová et al [34] observed that older cows tended to hold dominance over younger cows, but suggested that larger, younger cows may not contest the dominance of older cows because of few defensible resources when cattle are on pasture. If highly nutritious feeds (i.e., protein or energy supplements) are available in a limited space (i.e., trough or tub), more aggressive or dominant cattle may push less dominant cows away [35].…”

Section: When Are Cattle Movements Independent?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Movement Patterns of GPS-Tracked Cattle on Extensive Rangelands Suggest Independence among Individuals?

Stephenson

Bailey

2017

Agriculture

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Abstract:In behavioral studies, cattle within the same pasture are not considered as independent experimental units because of the potential confounding effects of the herd's social interactions. However, evaluating cattle behavior on extensive rangelands is logistically challenging for researchers, and treating individual animals as independent experimental units may be beneficial for answering specific research questions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association patterns among global positioning system (GPS)-tracked cattle at six different study sites in the western United States. A Half-Weight Index (HWI) association value was calculated for each pair of GPS-tracked cows (i.e., dyad) to determine the proportion of time that cattle were within 75 m and 500 m of each other. Cattle at two study sites exhibited relatively low mean HWI-association values (i.e., less than 0.23 HWI); whereas, cattle at other study sites tended to have greater mean HWI associations (i.e., greater than 0.35 HWI). Distinguishing features between study sites with low and high association values were the management of cattle prior to the study, herd size, pasture size, and the number of watering points. However, at all ranches except one, at least 75% of all dyadic associations had HWI values of less than 0.5 at 500 m, indicating that most of the GPS-tracked cows were greater than 500 m from each other for over 50% of tracking period. While interactions among cattle in the same pasture are often inevitable, our data suggests that under some situations, movement patterns of a sub-set of individual GPS-tracked cows may have levels of independence that are sufficient for analysis as individual experimental units. Understanding the level of independence among GPS-tracked cattle may provide options for analysis of grazing behavior for individual cattle within the same pasture.

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“…This is similar to other studies of cattle behaviour where certain individuals have social centrality and/or influence on the group’s behaviour [ 6 , 18 ]. An animal may have a strong influence as a result of age, dominance, or sex [ 6 , 52 ], but it is unknown why animal 6 in this study was an influential individual. Animals were of similar ages and animal 6 was not the only female in the mixed-sex group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Cattle Social Transitional Behaviour: Attraction and Repulsion

et al. 2020

Sensors

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Understanding social interactions in livestock groups could improve management practices, but this can be difficult and time-consuming using traditional methods of live observations and video recordings. Sensor technologies and machine learning techniques could provide insight not previously possible. In this study, based on the animals’ location information acquired by a new cooperative wireless localisation system, unsupervised machine learning approaches were performed to identify the social structure of a small group of cattle yearlings (n=10) and the social behaviour of an individual. The paper first defined the affinity between an animal pair based on the ranks of their distance. Unsupervised clustering algorithms were then performed, including K-means clustering and agglomerative hierarchical clustering. In particular, K-means clustering was applied based on logical and physical distance. By comparing the clustering result based on logical distance and physical distance, the leader animals and the influence of an individual in a herd of cattle were identified, which provides valuable information for studying the behaviour of animal herds. Improvements in device robustness and replication of this work would confirm the practical application of this technology and analysis methodologies.

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Pay respect to the elders: age, more than body mass, determines dominance in female beef cattle

Cited by 71 publications

References 64 publications

Diurnal behaviors and herd characteristics of dairy cows housed in a compost-bedded pack barn system under hot and humid conditions

Diurnal behaviors and herd characteristics of dairy cows housed in a compost-bedded pack barn system under hot and humid conditions

Do Movement Patterns of GPS-Tracked Cattle on Extensive Rangelands Suggest Independence among Individuals?

Analysis of Cattle Social Transitional Behaviour: Attraction and Repulsion

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