Social status and its relationships to maintenance behaviour in a herd of N'dama and West African Shorthorn cattle

Abstract

Social-related behaviour of N'dama and West African Shorthorn (WASH) cattle grazing together was studied over 10 consecutive days. Dominance was not related to age, liveweight or leadership when the animals were led into a weighing scale or into and out of the experimental paddock. Dominance had no influence on the use of shade, on drinking frequency or on grazing time, it was, however, positively associated with time spent ruminating and idling and with the frequency of allogrooming. Forced leadership into a weighing scale was negatively correlated (Spearmans rank correlation ( rs=−0.69, P<0.05) with liveweight while voluntary leadership, out of the experimental paddock ( rs=0.85, P<0.01) and into the experimental paddock ( rs=0.76, P<0.05), was positively correlated with liveweight. Voluntary leadership also positively and significantly ( P<0.01) influenced the frequency of visits to the water trough. All measures of leadership were significantly but negatively correlated with frequency of social association (close contact) between cows. N'dama were more aggressive than WASH and had higher dominance values. There was a slight tendency for WASH to associate more with their peers than N'dama with their peers. Social behaviours such as allogrooming were low and rubbing and sniffing absent in both breeds.