Bonding between beef cows and their calves is well established; however, social relationships between calves is less understood. In wild ungulates, young calf integration into the natal herd is typically facilitated by its dam based in part on her preexisting social rank and relationships. Weaning stress occurs when calves are transitioned off milk to solid feed and are commonly separated from their dam. Research is lacking on preferential relationships between calves during both the pre-wean and the post-wean periods. The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between calves during both the pre-wean and post-wean periods.
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Parsons et al. (2024) studied this question.
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