Social and environmental factors influence cattle distribution on rangeland

Howery, Larry D.; Provenza, Frederick D.; Banner, Roger E.; Scott, Cody B.

doi:10.1016/s0168-1591(97)00054-3

Cited by 90 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Such processes remain largely unexplored. It has however been shown that social factors interact with food preferences, vegetation availability and knowledge of the foraging environment to determine the distribution of sheep and cattle on grasslands and rangelands (Scott et al, 1995 and1996;Howery et al, 1998). Lack of data is especially prejudicial for the management of grazing distribution in domestic herbivores, as herds often use heterogeneous grasslands unevenly, which can lead to resource degradation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and social determinants of spontaneous group movements in cattle and sheep

Ramseyer

Boissy

Thierry

et al. 2009

Animal

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Group-living animals travel together to collectively exploit the resources of their environment. This study investigates how social relationships and individual temperament traits affect movement orders in domestic cattle and sheep. We analysed spontaneous group movements occurring at pasture after a resting period in a group of 15 18-month-old Charolais heifers and a group of 19 1-year-old Romane ewe-lambs. For each species, animals had similar social experience and no kinship ties. Before that, animals were observed within the group to establish their social status (e.g. dominance and preferential relationships, and sociability), then in individual tests in order to assess their emotional traits. In both species, most individuals could initiate a group movement but some individuals were more successful than others in recruiting the rest of the group. Ewe-lambs, and to a lesser extent heifers, held preferential positions during travel. We did not find any significant correlations in either species between animal order and their position in the dominance hierarchy (heifers: P 5 0.438; ewe-lambs: P 5 0.574) while individuals linked by preferential bonds frequently followed each other during group movements (heifers: P , 0.001; ewe-lambs: P , 0.001). With regard to social traits, heifers with a low cohesion index, and with a lower number of partners with whom they develop frequent affinitive interactions, acted more frequently as 'first movers' ( P 5 0.040 and 0.023, respectively), as well as did ewe-lambs with a high spatial independency index ( P 5 0.002). Ewe-lambs with the highest cohesion indices were more frequently observed in front of the group while moving halfway between departure and arrival ( P 5 0.028). We did not find significant correlations between individual positions during group movements and emotional traits such as reactivity, boldness and fearfulness. We conclude that preferential bonds and individual traits related to social dependence were more influential in spontaneous group movements at pasture than were emotional traits and dominance status.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and social determinants of spontaneous group movements in cattle and sheep

Ramseyer

Boissy

Thierry

et al. 2009

Animal

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“…Prior studies reporting social learning of foraging behavior in cattle (Howery et al, 1998;Bailey et al, 2000;Ksiksi and Laca, 2000) including those documenting social learning of toxic weed ingestion (Ralphs and Olsen, 1990;Ralphs et al, 1994) did not manipulate environmental factors that alter group social dynamics nor did they identify the behavioral mechanisms that influence social facilitation during foraging. Nonetheless, an increase in interference interactions associated with feeding space restrictions has been well documented not only in confined calves and adult cattle (Olofsson, 1999;DeVries et al, 2004;Huzzey et al, 2006) but also in pastoral environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does feeding area restriction inhibit social learning of toxic weed ingestion in cattle?

Jackson

Cibils

Gould

et al. 2010

Animal

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Social learning from peers can trigger herd-wide intoxication with white locoweed ( Oxytropis sericea), an alkaloid-synthesizing herbaceous legume that grows on rangelands of western North America. We conducted an experiment to test the hypothesis that restriction of the area allocated to animals to feed in would inhibit social facilitation of locoweed ingestion in yearling heifers. Eight heifers that avoided white locoweed (LA) and eight heifers that readily consumed it (LE) were selected from a pool of 40 cross-bred heifers and were randomly assigned to the social facilitation or social interference treatment groups. We conducted 200 10-min feeding trials in three 5-day phases (pre-treatment, treatment, post-treatment) during which animals were presented with a set of bowls arrayed in a test arena, some of which contained ground wheat straw and others contained air-dried ground white locoweed. During the pre-treatment (days 1 to 5) and the post-treatment phases (days 11 to 15) non-social trials were conducted in which the feeding behavior of individual animals was investigated in an 80 m 2 arena containing 12 feeding bowls. During the treatment phase (days 6 to 10) social learning trials were conducted in which LA 1 LE pairs from the social interference group were exposed to 12 bowls of food distributed in an 80 m 2 arena intended to induce social interference, and LA 1 LE pairs from the social facilitation group were exposed to 36 bowls of food distributed in a 240 m 2 arena intended to permit social facilitation. During pre-treatment phase, LA heifers consumed detectably less locoweed and wheat straw and exhibited lower preference for locoweed than LE ( P < 0.05) although wheat straw preference of LA and LE was similar. During social learning trials (treatment phase), LA in the social interference group visited similar number of locoweed bowls (mean 6 s.e.m.: 0.2 6 0.12) as they had during non-social learning (0.2 6 0.20). Conversely, LA heifers in the social facilitation group visited detectably more locoweed bowls during social learning trials (1.6 6 0.46) compared with the pre-treatment phase (0.2 6 0.16). Correlation between daily number of locoweed bowls visited by LA and LE during social learning trials was detected in the social facilitation (r 5 0.70; P , 0.01), but not in the social interference group (r 5 0.15; P 5 0.52). During testing trials (post-treatment phase), locoweed and wheat straw intake and preference of LA and LE in both treatment groups was similar. Manipulation of the feeding environment delayed, but did not inhibit social learning of toxic weed ingestion in this study.

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“…Furthermore, Hunter and Milner (1963) found hill sheep return to their home range within 2.5 hours following morning herding. A cross-fostering experiment showed that cows grazed the same home ranges in which they were reared as calves (Howery et al 1998). Hunter and Milner (1963) and Lawrence (1990) also found matrilineally related sheep tend to graze similar parts of the pasture.…”

Section: Potential Of Selection To Modify Grazing Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If terrain use is reasonably heritable, grazing patterns can be modified by sire and family selection. If early learning is important (Howery et al 1998), terrain use could be modified by management and training when replacement animals are calves. Continued evaluation of individual animal selection as a tool for modifying cattle grazing patterns in rugged and extensive rangelands appears justified.…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Animal Selection Has the Potential to Improve Uniformity of Grazing on Foothill Rangeland

Bailey

VanWagoner

Weinmeister

2006

REM

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Uneven grazing distribution is a concern in rugged topography, because resources may be adversely impacted if livestock concentrate in gentle terrain near water. A study was conducted to determine if removing cattle with undesirable distribution patterns has the potential to increase uniformity of grazing. Before the study, 2 herds of cattle were observed by horseback observers during early mornings to establish terrain use patterns of individual animals. Cows were ranked on slope use and observed vertical and horizontal distance to water. Based on these rankings, cows were assigned to 1 of 2 treatments, hill climbers (observed on steeper slopes and farther from water) or bottom dwellers (used gentler slopes near water). Hill climber and bottom dweller cows grazed similar, but separate, pastures at 2 ranches during the 3-year study for a total of 8 comparisons. Based on a normalized and integrated index of terrain use from visual observations, hill climber cows used steeper and more distant areas from water (P ¼ 0.06) than bottom dwellers. Hill climber cows tracked by global positioning system collars used steeper and more distant areas from water than bottom dwellers (P 0.09) during the first 4 weeks of the 6 weeks that pastures were grazed based on a normalized index of terrain use. Forage utilization was more uniform (P , 0.05) across slopes and varying horizontal distances to water in pastures grazed by hill climbers than by bottom dwellers. Stubble heights in riparian and coulee bottom areas were higher (P ¼ 0.01) when grazed by hill climber cows (13.3 cm) than by bottom dwellers (8.1 cm). This study demonstrates that cattle with divergent grazing patterns when observed in the same pasture continue to use different terrain when separated, and it suggests that individual animal selection has the potential to increase uniformity of grazing. ResumenLa distribució n no uniforme del apacentamiento es un problema en terrenos de topografía rugosa porque los recursos pueden ser afectados adversamente si el ganado se concentra en los terrenos planos cercanos del agua. Se condujo un estudio para determinar si la remoció n del ganado con patrones de distribució n indeseable tiene potencial para incrementar la uniformidad del apacentamiento. Previo al estudio, dos hatos de ganado se observaron temprano en la mañ ana con observadores a caballo para establecer los patrones de uso del terreno de animales individuales. Las vacas se clasificaron de acuerdo con el uso de la pendiente del terreno y la distancias observadas vertical y horizontal con respecto a la distancia del agua. Basados en esta clasificació n, las vacas fueron asignadas a uno de dos tratamientos: 1) trepadoras de montañ a (las observadas en pendientes pronunciadas y lejos del agua) y 2) moradoras del las partes bajas (vacas usuarias de pendientes suaves cercanas del agua). Las trepadoras y las moradoras de las partes bajas apacentaron en forma similar, pero separadas, en potreros en dos ranchos durante los tres añ os del estudio, para un total de 8...

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Social and environmental factors influence cattle distribution on rangeland

Cited by 90 publications

References 23 publications

Individual and social determinants of spontaneous group movements in cattle and sheep

Individual and social determinants of spontaneous group movements in cattle and sheep

Does feeding area restriction inhibit social learning of toxic weed ingestion in cattle?

Individual Animal Selection Has the Potential to Improve Uniformity of Grazing on Foothill Rangeland

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