Impact of Social Mixing on Steer Behavior

N i c o l e M . H u e t t e , C i a r a R . M a d i g a n , M i c h a e l a S t av ro p o u l o s
D r. C o u r t n e y L . D a i g l e , A m a n d a J . H u b b a r d | A n i m a l We l f a r e a n d B e h a v i o r L a b o r a t o r y

OBJECTIVES D R I N K I N G B E H AV I O R A G O N I S T I C B E H AV I O R

Evaluate the Aren’t necessary for survival…

Impact of Social Mean Number of Drinking Bouts
Mixing on Beef
Cattle
P = 0.08 but increased frequency can
No Mix (10.54 ± 1.27) negatively impact welfare
Rumination Drinking Social while increasing injuries and
Headbutts
Behavior expenses
Behavior Behavior
Time spent ruminating
Socially mixed cattle are Agonistic behavior counts Mix (7.68 ± 1.05)
will increase day-by-day
expected to have fewer will be higher with the
for mixed cattle, and
drinking bouts daily than mixed groups than the no
remain constant for no
no mix cattle mix groups
mix cattle

METHODS No Mix Mix

Food and Water Displacements Mounting

Bushland Research Lot Total Drinking Frequency Mean Agonistic Behavior

8
Trt P = 0.01

Total Agonistic Behavior

(count/steer/treatment)
300 7 Day P = 0.05

Total Number of Drinking Bouts

6

McGregor BCS 5
(count/treatment) 4
200

124
3

118
Day 0 Day 1 Day 2

95
Day of Experiment

12
100 Mix No Mix

0
No Mix (n = 6) Mix (n = 6) 6 Trt*Day P = 0.01 Trt P = 0.03 Day P = 0.009
58

120

Agonistic Behavior by
B Day 2 > Day 0

(count/steer/pen)
94 5
A
38

4
0
Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 3
Day of Experiment 2
B
BCS McG Mix No Mix (BCS) No Mix (McG) 1 A
Drinking and social behaviors initiated by each steer were continuously decoded 0
Mix
from video on Day 0, 1 and 2 Mix No Mix Mix No Mix Mix No Mix
- Each day every pen was recorded across the same 4-hour period which started
Mounts Headbutts Displacements
when the last steer entered a pen on Day 0 Mean Drinking Bouts
- Data was collected by 24 trained observers using BORIS (v 7.1) Day 0 Day 1 Day 2
- Data was aggregated to create daily counts for each behavior for every steer
Steers were fitted with HRLDn rumination ear tags (Allflex Livestock
Intelligence) to record rumination bout frequency and duration for threedays 20 Day P = 0.08 CONCLUSIONS
following mixing
Repeated measures models (PROC MIXED; SAS v 9.4) evaluated the impact of
Average Number of Drinking Bouts

treatment, day and their interaction on each behavior

- Pen was the experimental unit, Day was the repeated effect, and steer within pen B Social
AB
was the random effect Mixing
15
(count/steer/pen)

RU M I N AT I O N B E H AV I O R
Rumination Drinking Social
Mean Time Ruminating Total Hours Ruminating A Behavior Behavior Behavior
10
10 Day P = 0.002 10
15.67

9.5 9.5
15

A Social mixing
9 9 Varies by source Varies by day reduces agonistic
A
Time Spent Ruminating
(hour/steer/treatment)

8.5 8.5 5 behavior

B
8.43

8.27
7.25

8
6.33

8
4.75

7.5 7.5 Socially mixed cattle

Socially mixed cattle
2.4

may take longer to

9.01

Varies by day perform fewer

8.77

7 7
8.55

establish social
8.46

0
8.24
8.23
8.22

drinking bouts
8.14
8.06

8.03
7.97

6.5 6.5 hierarchies

7.65

7.53

Day 0 Day 1 Day 2

7.18
6.98

6 6 Day of Experiment
5.5 5.5 Acute behavioral responses to social mixing suggest that this
husbandry practice reduces drinking behavior and delays
5 5
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 No Mix (BCS) No Mix (McG) Mix Daily Mean social hierarchy establishment.
Day of Experiment Day of Experiment Longitudinal observations will provide insight into the impact
Series1
Mix
No Mix (BCS) Mix
MIX social mixing has on long-term feedlot cattle welfare.
TEO RumMin!$Q$65:$Q$67
No Mix No Mix (McG)