Relationship between Social Grooming and Agonistic Behaviour in a Stable Fattening Cattle Herd

A stable herd of fattening cattle comprising 9 steers and a heifer, which had been kept together over a month in a dry-lot, was observed for 13 days (0600-1900 h) to determine the diurnal distribution of the frequency of social licking interactions and to examine the relationship between social licking and agonistic behaviour. Agonistic behaviour was also classified into total (fighting, bunting, pushing, threatening and avoiding), aggressive (fighting, bunting, pushing and threatening) and physically aggressive (fighting, bunting and pushing) encounters. There were three major peaks in hourly distribution of social licking frequencies during the daytime, i.e. preand post-feeding in the morning (0700-0800 and 1000-1100 h) and post-feeding in the afternoon (1600-1700 h). The frequency of social licking interactions was negatively correlated with total, aggressive or physically aggressive encounters, and there was a strong link between social licking and physically aggressive behaviour (P<O.Ol). This indicates that social licking alternated with aggressive behaviour from day to day and served the function of controlling aggression in the socially stable herd.