Use of social network analysis to improve the understanding of social behaviour in dairy cattle and its impact on disease transmission

Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences

“…Dairy cows are typically kept in exclusively female groups, separated by age and reproductive status, with access to a more restricted space allowance in the form of either indoor housing or fenced grazing paddocks and may be subject to frequent regrouping events ( 2 – 5 ). Understanding the structure and dynamics of housed dairy cattle networks may give insights on preferential interactions and aid in optimizing their management ( 6 , 7 ).…”

“…Housed cattle are known to avoid interactions with dominant conspecifics whilst feeding to reduce competition ( 19 ), and the social positioning of individuals may also be altered where a resource is deemed more valuable ( 20 ). Individual attributes are thought to be important in disease transmission ( 7 ), as cows participate in contact behaviors based on age and sex. Dairy cows may groom conspecifics based on familiarity and dominance ( 21 ), although affiliative and agonistic interaction networks may not be correlated ( 22 ).…”

“…Data can be collected for SNA in non-automated ways, such as through direct observation ( 7 , 21 ) or through analysis of video recordings ( 22 ). Although detailed social interaction data can be obtained through these methods, they are highly time-consuming, and limit sample size and sampling duration.…”

Data_Sheet_3.docx

“…Dairy cows are typically kept in exclusively female groups, separated by age and reproductive status, with access to a more restricted space allowance in the form of either indoor housing or fenced grazing paddocks and may be subject to frequent regrouping events (2-5). Understanding the structure and dynamics of housed dairy cattle networks may give insights on preferential interactions and aid in optimizing their management (6,7).…”

“…Housed cattle are known to avoid interactions with dominant conspecifics whilst feeding to reduce competition (19), and the social positioning of individuals may also be altered where a resource is deemed more valuable (20). Individual attributes are thought to be important in disease transmission (7), as cows participate in contact behaviors based on age and sex. Dairy cows may groom conspecifics based on familiarity and dominance (21), although affiliative and agonistic interaction networks may not be correlated (22).…”