The document summarizes a study that compared the locomotory behaviors of a juvenile calf and a mature mother cow. The behaviors observed included walking, running, standing, herding, and laying down. Over 14 minutes of observation, it was found that the juvenile calf displayed all behaviors and did so more frequently than the adult cow. This suggests the calf's behaviors are more innate, while the cow's reduced behaviors could be a learned way to conserve energy. The study provides insight into how cattle behaviors may be both innate and learned over an animal's lifespan.

1. Introduction
“The domestication of cattle is generally accepted to have taken
place in two independent centres: around 10,500 years ago in the
Near East.” [Zhang, H (2013)] As a society we developed an
agricultural dependency on livestock which further lead to an
increase in behavioural studies to obtain the best yield from our
cattle while considering their welfare. Insert something here
relevant to behaviour “In the 1950’s and 1960’s there was much
debate concerning whether particular behaviour is innate or
learned; today most ethologists hold that most behaviour has both
innate and learned components.” [Allaby, M (2010)] Learned
behaviours develop over the animals life span as it interacts with it’s
environment. Innate behaviour is defined a form of behaviour which
is genetically programmed. A lot of studies look into how both
behaviours have evolved with one and other over the years. [Tierny
A.J (1986)] found that rapidly changing environments influence
more development of learned behaviour whereas stable
environments favour innate behaviours to be displayed more
frequently.
Locomotory behaviour should be considered as behaviour
conducted for the purpose of moving from one position to another
with the aid of physical movement. The shift in position for example
could be from standing to laying down, walking from one spot to
another or jumping from the ground. Cattle display these
locomotory behaviours from birth for example cow calves learn to
stand normally within 2 hours of being born. (John Hall 2001).
Locomotory behaviour is often used as a guide to look for any
infrequencies in regular behaviour which could be an early sign of
illness or disease like lameness.
A study comparing the locomotory behaviour displayed by cattle
Methodology
From the herd of cattle located in the roundhouse two cows were
selected for observation. The first cow selected was a juvenile calf
situated in a section of the roundhouse with other juveniles and
mature female cattle. The second cow selected was from the same
section of the roundhouse, this cow was a mature female cattle who
had produced offspring this year. Each cow was studied for a period
of 14 minutes with observations being recorded every 30 seconds. At
the 30 second interval, the behaviour being displayed at that current
time was recorded. Five different locomotory behaviours were
chosen to be the focus of the study. A behaviour was considered to
have occurred if it matched the predetermined description of that
behaviour and could be ticked off as having happened. Walking,
characterized by the cow moving from one position in the
roundhouse to another. The stride pace should be relatively slow
with multiple steps being taken one after the other without returning
to a stationary position for longer than 2 seconds. Running is the
action of an animal moving from one place to another with out pause
at a quick pace. A stationary position should not be returned to until
the animal comes to rest where the running behaviour has ceased.
Standing is represented as a stationary form of behaviour where the
cattle remains in an upright position on both pairs of legs.
Discussion
References
John Hall. (march 2001). The Cow-Calf Manager - First 72 Hours
Critical for Calves. Available:
http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/newsletter-archive/livestock/aps-01_03/aps
Michael Allaby (2010). A Dictionary of Ecology. 4th ed. New
York: Oxford University Press, Inc.. p203.
Tierny, A.J. (1986). The evolution of learned and innate behavior:
Contributions from genetics and neurobiology to a theory of
behavioral evolution. Animal Learning & Behavior . 14 ( 4 ),
p339-348.
Zhang, H.. (2013). Morphological and genetic evidence for early
Holocene cattle management in northeastern China. Nature
Communications . 4 (2755), p1.
Results
Figure 1: Shows the total time that a chosen behaviour was
displayed over the course of the 14 minute study period . The
orange bar represents the juvenile calf and the blue bar represents
the mature mother cow. From the graph only running behaviour
was displayed by the juvenile over the study time.
Figure 2: Outlines the amount of times a behaviour occurred
during the set intervals of observations. The orange bar
representing the juvenile calf and the blue bar representing the
mature mother cow. The juvenile calf displayed behaviours more
frequently than the adult female cow studied. Herding behaviour
was displayed twice as much by the juvenile in comparison to the
adult female cow.
The juvenile calf’s behaviour could be perceived as innate due to
the fact the calf displayed all behaviours that the adult female cow
presented.
There should be no observable change caused by motion in where the
cattle has moved to a new location. Herding defined by the motion of
movement made by the subject animal alongside the same motion of
another animal in their situation. One or more cattle must follow the
motion of the observed animal in a close proximity of no more than two
strides apart for it to be considered as herding. Laying should be noted by
the stationary position of the animal’s body connecting to ground level
rather than the base of their feet. The animal should be in this position for
more than 4 seconds.
However later on in life it could be considered that a
psychological adaptation occurs by learning to conserve
energy by reducing the time spent performing these
behaviours. This could possibly be learned from the other
cattle and noticing the expenditure in their energy in
relevance to energy uptake from grazing once the calf no
longer weens from its mother for nourishment.