Social companionship versus food: The effect of the presence of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics on the distance steers travel

Abstract

The social motivation of a grazing individual to remain in close proximity to its peer is dependent on many factors, particularly the level of familiarity with its peers and the desire to forage further away. This study examined the trade-off individual cattle have to make between a food reward and maintaining close proximity to a peer with which they are either familiar or unfamiliar. Two unfamiliar groups of 12 Brahman steers were individually tested in a 30 m × 140 m grassed arena with an adjoining holding yard containing the peer. During the without-food test, no food was provided to motivate individuals to move away from their peer. In the with-food tests, 13 food bowls containing 250 g..