Social Stress and Dominance Among Group Members After Mixing Beef Cows

Mench, Joy A.; Swanson, J. C.; Stricklin, W. R.

doi:10.4141/cjas90-046

Cited by 53 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This is likely more evident in situations where home range areas overlap because of small pasture sizes and where dominance hierarchies are well established because the individual composition of the herd remains relatively constant (e.g., CRLRC). Periodic rotation among pastures also may affect the strength of social associations and fidelity to sub-groups, because cattle adapt to regrouping events [48]. When cattle are moved among smaller pastures, cattle become mixed and there is less time for spatial home range preferences to develop, or corresponding isolation among individuals.…”

Section: Number Of Gps-tracked Animalsmentioning

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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Section: Number Of Gps-tracked Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Stephenson

Bailey

2017

Agriculture

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“…A chronic stressor, such as mixing of cattle (Mench et al 1990) or penning (Friend et al 1985), causes an increase in plasma cortisol over trme. An acute stressor causes a raoid increase in the concentration of olasma adrenal corticosteroids which steadily decline to homeostatis (Stott 1981 (Hargreaves and Hutson 1990).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of age and method of castration on plasma cortisol in beef calves

King¹,

Cohen²,

Guenther³

et al. 1991

Can. J. Anim. Sci.

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“…(Sowerby and Poland, 1978) did not find any consistent effect of group size during grouping. (Mench et al, 1990) found a relatively low amount of fights between unfamiliar beef cows that were grouped in the third trimester of pregnancy compared to earlier studies and suggest this could be an effect of late pregnancy. However, introducing heifers in late pregnancy into a cow herd of different stages of lactation may have different effects and there might be the risk for premature parturition.…”

Section: Management Of the Social Groupmentioning

confidence: 61%

Scientific report on the effects of farming systems on dairy cow welfare and disease

2009

EFSA Journal

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Social Stress and Dominance Among Group Members After Mixing Beef Cows

Abstract: dominance among group members after mixing beef cows. Can. J. Animal Sci. 70t [345][346][347][348][349][350][351][352][353][354].

Cited by 53 publications

References 20 publications

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

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

The effect of age and method of castration on plasma cortisol in beef calves

Scientific report on the effects of farming systems on dairy cow welfare and disease

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