Movement orders in spontaneous group movements in cattle: 6-year monitoring of a beef cow herd with changing composition
2021
Hirata, Masahiko | Hamada, Minamo | Kawagoe, Ikuko | Okamura, Koki | Yuda, Sakura
Few studies have investigated group movements of domestic ungulates in farming conditions where the groups are subjected to repeated composition changes across years. We stocked a beef cow herd (23–34 cows; some with a calf) maintained in a farm in a grazing plot comprising two subplots, and monitored inter-subplot movements of cows on 39 days for 6 years. Movements of the entire cow herd, pooled over the two directions, occurred 4–23 times daily. Time required for individual movements ranged from < 1 to 34 min, with nearly 90% of the movements being completed within 10 min. Daily movement orders of cows were consistent (Kendall’s W = 0.13–0.36, P < 0.05) on 34 days out of the 39, with some cows appearing in the first three (front) or last three (rear) positions more frequently than the chance (binomial P < 0.05). The front- and rear-positioned cows did not differ (P ≥ 0.05) in age, body weight, years from the first introduction into the herd, days from the last calving, days in pregnancy, or proportion of days with a calf. More studies are needed to understand the factors affecting leadership to use this trait for management of herd movements.
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