Association patterns of visually-observed cattle on Montana, USA foothill rangelands

Abstract Cattle on extensive rangelands typically graze in smaller groups rather than as one large herd. The objective of this study was to examine the strength of social associations among cattle in different sized herds. Associations among individual pairs of cows (i.e., dyads) on rangelands were determined from 12 to 15 early-morning visual observations during the summer months from 1997 to 2001. Strength of associations was assessed at group (i.e., cows that were within 30 m of other cows) and pasture section (i.e., cows within the same general pasture area) spatial scales by determining Half-Weight Index (HWI) association values for all dyads with the association software program SOCPROG 2.4. Herds with 40 or less cows exhibited association patterns that were not different (P

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