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Matrilinear Social Dominance and Spatial Relationships among Angus and Hereford Cows¹

University of Maryland, College Park 20742

Abstract

Two groups of Angus and Hereford cow families on summer pastures were observed to determine the effects of kinship and breed on social dominance and spacing relationships among individuals within groups. Each group was composed of 20 cows and contained two granddam-dam-daughter families and two dam-daughter families of each breed. Herefords tended to weigh more (P<.10) than Angus; 518 (SD = 114) and 467 (SD = 92) kg, respectively. However, Angus were socially dominant (P<.01) to Herefords, with 51.9 (SD = 20.1) and 33.4 (SD = 15.9) mean dominance values for cows of the respective breeds. In no case was a Hereford cow determined to be dominant to an older Angus cow. Within families of both breeds, dams and granddams were always dominant to their progeny. Relative distances among cows were determined on 30 occasions over a 2-mo period of time. Based on nearest neighbor frequency, there was a tendency for members of families to aggregate, but in general family explained only a slight to moderate amount of variation in spacing characteristics. Breed affected mean distance to all cows (P<.01), distance to group center (P<.05), distance to same breed group center (P<.01), distance to opposite breed group center (P<.05) and mean distance to all cows of the same breed (P<.01), but breed did not affect mean distance to all cows of the opposite breed. Distances for Angus were less than those for Herefords for each of the significantly affected spacing characteristics. Based on nearest neighbor frequency, there was a strong tendency for cows of the same breed to position near each other more frequently than expected at random. These data led to the observation that while resting, Angus cows, which were dominant, tended to aggregate and form the center of a loafing group with the lower ranking Hereford cows positioned on the periphery of the group.

¹ Scientific Article No. A-335, Contribution No. 643 of the Maryland Agr. Exp. Sta.

² Dept. of Anim. Sci.