Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T02:21:28.412Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of group size on the ingestive and social behaviour of grazing dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

M. I. Rind  and
C.J. C. Phillips
M. I. Rind*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW
C.J. C. Phillips*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW
*
† Present address: Department of Poultry Husbandry, Sindh Agriculture University, Pakistan.
‡ Present address and correspondence: Animal Science Division, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Madingley Road, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES.
Get access

Abstract

An experiment was conducted with 48 dairy cows grazed in treatment groups of four, eight or 16 cows per group, whose grazing, social and resting behaviour was recorded over a 53-day period. Cows in groups of four stayed closer to their nearest neighbour, moved their head more rapidly from side to side during grazing and spent more time ruminating than cows in larger groups, suggesting that they were more vigilant against a perceived prédation risk. Cows in the group of 16 were more aggressive, maintained a greater distance to their nearest neighbour and had a faster rate of stepping while they grazed, compared with cows in smaller groups, suggesting increased inter-cow competition. They also spent longer grooming themselves, which normally acts as a displacement activity and may indicate increased stress. Cows in groups of eight had a faster biting rate when grazing than cows in small or large groups and they spent the longest time lying down. There were no effects of group size on milk production but across treatment groups the high yielding cows were the first to initiate grazing and to enter the milking parlour.

Keywords

behaviourdairy cowsgrazinggroup sizerumination
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , June 1999 , pp. 589 - 596
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, D. W., Rittenhouse, L. R., Hart, R. H. and Richards, R. W. 1989. Characteristics of spatial memory in cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 23: 331–340.Google Scholar
Bailey, P. J., Bishop, A. H. and Boord, C.T. 1974. Grazing behaviour of steers. Proceedings of the Australian Society of Animal Production 10: 303–306.Google Scholar
Benham, P. F. J. 1984. Social organisation in groups of cattle and the inter-relationships between social and grazing behaviours under different grazing management systems. Ph.D. thesis, University of Reading. Google Scholar
Champion, R. A., Rutter, S. M., Penning, P. D. and Rook, A. J. 1994. Temporal variation in grazing behaviour of sheep and the reliability of sampling methods. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 42: 99–108.Google Scholar
Dannenmann, K., Buchenauer, D. and Fliegener, H. 1985. The behaviour of calves under four levels of lighting. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 13: 243–258.Google Scholar
Faulkner, A., Thomson, E. M., Bassett, J. M. and Thomson, G. E. 1980. Cold exposure and mammary glucose metabolism in the lactating goat. British Journal of Nutrition 43: 163–170.Google Scholar
Frame, J. 1993. Herbage mass. In Sward measurement handbook (ed. A. Davies, R. D. Baker, S. A. Grant and Laidlaw, A. S.), pp. 39–68. British Grassland Society, Reading.Google Scholar
Fryxell, J. M. 1991. Forage quality and aggregation in herbivores. American Naturalist 138: 478–498.Google Scholar
Hall, S. J. G. and Moore, G. F. 1986. Feral cattle of Swona, Orkney Islands. Mainmal Review 16: 89–96.Google Scholar
Hinch, G. N., Thwaites, C. J., Lynch, J. J. and Pearson, A. J. 1982. Spatial relationships within a herd of young sterile bulls and steers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 8: 27–44.Google Scholar
Holmes, W. 1989. Grazing management. In Grass, its production and utilization (ed. Holmes, W.), p. 145. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hull, J. L., Lofgreen, G. P. and Meyer, J. H. 1960. Continuous versus intermittent observations in behaviour studies with grazing cattle. Journal of Animal Science 19: 1204–1207.Google Scholar
Jensen, M. B. 1995. The effect of age at tethering on behaviour of heifer calves. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 43: 227–238.Google Scholar
Kondo, S., Sekine, J., Okubo, M. and Asahida, Y. 1989. The effect of group size and space allowance on the agonistic and spacing behaviour of cattle. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 24: 127–135.Google Scholar
Lazo, A. 1992. [The determinants of grouping behaviour in feral cattle.] Revue d’Écologie — la Terre et la Vie 41: 51–66.Google Scholar
Lazo, A. 1994. Social segregation and the maintenance of social stability in a feral cattle population. Animal Behaviour 48: 1133–1141.Google Scholar
Llopis, J., Lampreabe, A., Lopez-Frias, M., Peran, F., Bianco-Martinez, N., Urbano, G. and Montellano, M. A. 1990. Influence of hydrocortisone acetate administered to the lactating rat on protein and lactose content in milk and serum protein, glucose and insulin levels in dams and pups. Hormone Metabolism Research 22: 71–74.Google Scholar
McNaughton, S. J. 1984. Grazing lawns: animals in herds, plant form and evolution. American Naturalist 124: 863–886.Google Scholar
Meddis, R. 1975. On the function of sleep. Animal Behaviour 23: 676–691.Google Scholar
Milk Marketing Board. 1991. Dairy facts and figures,p. 207. The Dairy Federation of UK, Milk Marketing Board, Surrey.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. 1986. The analysis of agricultural materials: a manual of the analytical methods. Reference book no. 427, p. 248. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Minitab. 1990. Minitab statistical software: MTB, manual, release 7V. Minitab Inc., Pennsylvania, USA.Google Scholar
Mulvany, P. M. 1977. Dairy cow condition scoring. National Institute for Research in Dairying, paper no. 4468, Shinfield, Reading.Google Scholar
Nanging, C. 1989. Feeding dairy cattle in tropical regions of China. In Feeding dairy cows in the tropics (ed. Speedy, A. and Sansoucy, P. R.). F.A.O. Proceedings, Bangkok, book no. 86.Google Scholar
Orr, R. J., Penning, P. D., Harvey, A. and Champion, R. A. 1997. Diurnal patterns of intake rate by sheep grazing monocultures of ryegrass or white clover. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 52: 65–77.Google Scholar
Penning, P. D., Parsons, A. J., Newman, J. A., Orr, R. J. and Harvey, A. 1993. The effects of group size on grazing time in sheep. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 37: 101–109.Google Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. 1993. Cattle behaviour,p. 58. Farming Press, Ipswich.Google Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. 1998. The use of individual dairy cows as replicates in the statistical analysis of their behaviour at pasture (letter to the editor). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 60: 365–369.Google Scholar
Reinhardt, V. and Reinhardt, A. 1981. Cohesive relationships in a cattle herd (Bos indicus) . Behaviour 77: 121–151.Google Scholar
Rind, M. I. 1994. Social effects on the feeding behaviour and production of dairy cows. Ph.D. thesis, University of Wales, Bangor. Google Scholar
Risenhoover, K. L. and Bailey, J. A. 1985. Relationships between group size, feeding time and agonistic behavior of mountain goats. Canadian Journal of Zoology 63: 2501–2506.Google Scholar
Rook, A. J. and Huckle, C. A. 1995. Synchronization of ingestive behaviour by grazing dairy cows. Animal Science 60: 25–30.Google Scholar
Ruckebusch, Y. 1972. The relevance of drowsiness in the circadian cycle of farm animals. Animal Behaviour 20: 637–643.Google Scholar
Sato, S. 1982. Leadership during actual grazing in a small herd of cattle. Applied Animal Ethology 8: 53–65.Google Scholar
Tribe, D. E. 1950. Influence of pregnancy and social facilitaton on the behaviour of grazing sheep. Nature 166: 74.Google Scholar
Underwood, R. 1982. Vigilance behaviour in grazing African antelopes. Behaviour 79: 81–107.Google Scholar
WallisDeVries, M. F. 1996. Effects of resource distribution patterns on ungulate foraging behaviour: a modelling approach. Forest Ecology and Management 88: 167–177.Google Scholar
Wood, M. T. 1977. Social grooming patterns in two herds of monozygotic twin dairy cows. Animal Behaviour 25: 635–642.Google Scholar
Wynne-Edwards, V. C. 1962. Animal dispersion in relation to social behaviour. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, UK.Google Scholar