Abstract

LOMILLOS-PEREZ, Juan; ALONSO-DE LA VARGA, Marta; GARCIA-GARCIA, Juan  and  GAUDIOSO-LACASA, Vicente. Study of Lidia cattle social behavior using technology GPS-GPRS. Abanico vet [online]. 2016, vol.6, n.3, pp.35-46. ISSN 2448-6132.  https://doi.org/10.21929/abavet2016.63.3.

The use of GPS technology in monitoring Lidia cattle allows us to have relevant data in real time, providing information about the movement, frequented territory, behaviour patterns, etc. In this paper, 9 animals, from 3 different herds in the province of Salamanca (Spain) were monitored, and its characteristics were: mother (8-15 years) - daughter (2 years) - Independent (4-5 years). We designed a methodology that allowed extracting information from the position data to understanding the behaviour of cattle grazing and studying unknown aspects such as social behaviour. Foraging areas of each animal were calculated with an occupancy average of 92% of the available space. Animals tend to start their daily activities grazing a few hours before dawn, which dims the evening to rest overnight. In the distances between the three pairs of animals (mother-daughter, mother-independent, independent-daughter) no significant differences were found that allow us to confirm the existence of a link “mother-daughter” that would make individuals of the same family remained close.

Keywords : GPS; social behavior; grazing; extensive; Lidia cattle.