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An attempt to bond weaned 3-month-old beef heifers to yearling ewes*

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Abstract

This study was conducted to determine if recently weaned heifers, averaging 3 months of age, would bond to sheep. Heifers with a mean age of 90 days were penned for 80 days, singly or in groups of three, with two or five yearling ewes, respectively. The cattle and sheep were observed together, while on pasture following 40 and 80 days of pen confinement for cohesiveness by estimating interspecific distances at 15 min intervals over several consecutive hours. Single heifers consistently stayed close to sheep while on pasture. However, if two or more heifers were together at pasture, the heifers would not consistently stay with the sheep. Therefore, attachment of single heifers to sheep is believed to result from social dependence. During observations when two or more heifers were together at pasture, yearling ewes that had been penned together with the heifers usually followed the heifers. This phenomenon was not anticipated in the design of this study, however, preliminary observations suggest yearling ewes will form an attraction and follow cattle when at pasture after having been penned with them for 80 days.

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Cited by (4)

  • Filial attachment in sheep: Similarities and differences between ewe-lamb and human-lamb relationships

    2015, Applied Animal Behaviour Science
    Citation Excerpt :

    By mixing species varying in fear behaviour, some may benefit from the protection of others that can be aggressive towards predators. Such characteristic has been used to protect vulnerable small ruminants by inducing mixed bonds between herds of cattle and flocks of sheep in order to reduce attacks on the latter by coyotes in North America (Anderson et al., 1992; Hulet et al., 1987), or by raising dogs with sheep to guard them against wolves in Europe (Rigg, 2001). In the web of induced interspecific relationships, the most common and probably best known association is the one that involves animals and humans: it can be intense, vital and lifelong in some species (pets) or casual and temporary in others (farm species).

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Cooperative investigations of the Agriculture Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. Journal Article 1627, Agricultural Experiment Station, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA.

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