PSV-2 An exploration of sociality among pre-weaned beef calves
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Preferential relationships have been reported between individual cows within a herd. However, less is known about the ontogeny of preferential relationships between calves and subsequent bonding behavior. The objective of this study was to characterize these relationships in pre-weaned beef calves, with the hypothesis that calves form preferential relationships with one another prior to weaning. Ten weeks prior to commencing formal observations, forty mature Angus cows and their calves were randomly selected from a research herd, balanced for calf sex and allocated to one of two grazing paddocks approximately 12 acres in size. Two weeks prior to weaning, direct observations of calf behavior were performed over period of 12 days, using instantaneous scan sampling between 0700-1230h or 1300-1830h, resulting in 6 scans per calf/day X 12 days (72 scans/calf). For each calf, the identity and proximity (in calf lengths) of the calf in closest proximity (aka nearest neighbor) was noted, as well as behavior. The ethogram included calf behavior (grazing, nursing, lying, drinking, locomotion, social contact and standing idle), and sociality was categorized as being within 5 calf lengths of another calf. Sociality was observed in 60% of all scans, and sociality of individual calves ranged from 47% to 72% of the scans observed (72 scans/calf). The statistical model investigating sociality included calf sex and the interaction of day and paddock. Sociality was equally likely in bulls and heifers (0.59 +/- 0.1; p=0.80). A significant day by paddock interaction was also identified (p=0.001), but no obvious trends were apparent. In conclusion, preliminary results provide support for individual differences in sociality of pre-weaned beef calves prior to weaning. Further analysis will explore if preferential relationships exist between individual calves, and how these might be associated with different behavioral states.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".