How do cattle cope with social competition?

对个体住房中农场动物福利的关注导致了对集体住房的使用增加，但经济压力导致了大规模的群体规模和较高的社会密度。动物福利标准限制了群体的规模或密度，但对于这些标准应该是什么存在争议。社会密度的定量测量(例如，某一地区的动物数量)假定所有动物都是相同的，但动物对社会竞争的反应有很大的不同。我们对保持高密度的农场动物的社会策略知之甚少，也几乎没有工具来改善社会竞争的影响。社会竞争通常被认为是通过优势关系来调节的，但动物之间的社会关系可能更微妙。驯养的物种通常群居在一起，并进化出适应其社会环境的策略。我们需要了解这些社交能力，并从中获益。在乳制品生产中，用奶喂养的小牛和围产期奶牛的动物福利面临的风险最大。对动物福利的担忧和经济压力有利于对这些动物使用集体收容所，但最近的研究表明，放牧密度对获取资源的有害影响。然而，我们在很大程度上仍然不了解牛与牛之间社会关系的性质，或者它们改善社会竞争负面影响的能力。这项提议的目的是研究1.密集饲养的哺乳奶牛和哺乳小牛是否在空间接近的基础上形成附属社会关系，并更喜欢梳理或玩耍伴侣。2.这些附属关系减少了社会竞争对资源的影响。3.牛将群体伙伴划分为主导或从属或从属或竞争对手。4.牛能够重新安排它们的激励优先事项，以避免社会竞争。我将研究商业条件下牛群内争斗和从属行为的分布，并探索在拥有大量从属关系的牛群中，对资源的竞争是否会减少。我还将探索奶牛将彼此归类为熟悉/不熟悉、主导/从属或从属/竞争对手的方式。

Concern about the welfare of farm animals in individual housing has led to increased use of group housing but economic pressures result in large group sizes and high social density. Animal welfare standards limit group size or densities but there is controversy as to what these should be. Quantitative measures of social density (e.g. number of animals in a given area) assume that all animals are identical but animals differ greatly in how they respond to social competition. We know little about social strategies of farm animals kept at high densities and have few tools to ameliorate the effect of social competition. Social competition is usually thought to be regulated by dominance relationships, but social relationships between animals can be more subtle. Domesticated species normally live in groups and have evolved strategies to adapt to their social environment. We need to understand these social abilities and profit from them. In dairy production, animal welfare is most at risk for the milk-fed calf and the periparturient cow. Animal welfare concerns and economic pressures favour the use of group housing for these animals, but recent studies show deleterious effects of stocking density on access to resources. However, we remain largely ignorant of the nature of social relationships between cattle, or their abilities to ameliorate negative effects of social competition. The objectives of this proposal are to examine whether 1. intensively-housed lactating cows and milk-fed calves form affiliative social relationships based on spatial proximity, and preferred grooming or playing partners. 2. these affiliative relationships reduce the effect of social competition over resources. 3. cattle classify group companions as either dominant or subordinate or affiliate or competitor. 4. cattle are able to re-schedule their motivational priorities to avoid social competition. I will examine the distribution of agonistic and affiliative behaviours within groups of cattle in commercial conditions, and explore whether competition over resources is reduced in groups with a large percent of affiliative relationships. I will also explore the way that cows classify each other as either familiar/unfamiliar, dominant/subordinate or affiliative/competitor.