Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences

• Key finding:

  The social network of a group of high yielding dairy cows housed in cubicles was highly connected. There was preferential assortment and inter-individual variation in daily interactions in the non-feeding zone but not the feeding zone. It is likely that cows have a greater level of control over their associations in these areas compared with the dynamic feeding zone. There were no clear differences in social assortment by lameness status, parity or days in milk in this study although high stocking rates.

Links to Open Access Publications or DOI:

• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.583715/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Veterinary_Science&id=583715

Citation:

Kareemah Chopra, Holly R. Hodges, Zoe E. Barker, Jorge A. Vázquez Diosdado, Jonathan R. Amory, Tom C. Cameron, Darren P. Croft, Nick J. Bell and Edward A. Codling. 2020. Proximity Interactions in a Permanently Housed Dairy Herd: Network Structure, Consistency, and Individual Differences. Front. Vet. Sci. 07 December 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.583715