We werenвЂ™t selective, but we were very fortunate to find a couple of suitable ladies to keep him company. Bear was lonely and we did some scrambling to find him a few companions. Knowing little or nothing about raising cattle, we decided on the spot that he had to be a part of our family.Д«ear was still busy courting some of the ladies at Big Ridge, but when the season was over, we crossed the mountains into North Carolina and loaded him into our rented trailer for the trip to Elm Hollow Farm. He was the most beautiful bull IвЂ™d ever seen and he was for sale.

Bear came right over and took range cubes from our hands. None the less, we decided to go visit a Scottish Highland breeder and see these beautiful creatures for ourselves. WeвЂ™d read about Highlands, but I was a little nervous about huge animals with horns. We needed cows that would thrive in spite of our novice status. IвЂ™m too much of an animal lover to just bring in calves, fatten them up and haul them off to the butcher. All went well for a while, but we never really enjoyed the interactions with the sheep, so we began looking into feeder cows. It was concluded that the low aggressive tension resulting from the firm hierachy may have been one reason why reproductive performance was so good, despite the fact that no veterinary care was provided.When we found ourselves with plenty of fenced pasture, we decided to try our hand with hair sheep. The herd's average calving interval was 391 days, and calving mortality within the first year of life was 5%.

Breeding was synchronized in May and June and calving coincided with the spring flush of grass, indicating a correlation between food quality and timing of pregnancy. Heifers first gave birth at 2 or 3 years of age. Calves sometimes mounted their mothers to attract their attention. The activity was not used as a dominance demonstration, as has been reported in sheep, goats and muskox. Mounting was a playful behaviour shown by calves of both sexes and by bulls but not by cows. Licking was a social service primarily performed by subordinates and received by dominant animals. The playful intention was underscored by the fact that invitations were made by the subordinate partner as often as by the dominant partner of a pair. Participants did not try to defeat each other. Mock fighting was a friendly contact behaviour shown by both sexes and all ageclasses. Young bulls overruled adult cows when they reached about 2 years of age.ДЄll four offspring of the top-ranking cow had outstandingly high rank positions despite the fact that their mother never intervened when they were involved in disputes.Дominance-associated aggressiveness (number of aggressive acts directed against individual subordinate partners) did not correlate with rank position, but was closely related to rank distance. Social standing depended on age and sex, with older animals generally being dominant to young ones and males dominant to females. Being predictable to each other, the animals had little reason for overt aggressive conflicts and they settled the majority of disputes by agonistic activities that involved no physical contact between opponents (threatening and spontaneous withdrawing) and hence no risk of injury.

Social behaviour and reproductive performance in a herd of semi-wild Scottish Highland cattle were assessed over a period of 4 years.Дominance relationships were very firm.

Scottish highland cattle