title: Differences in the behavior of the crossbred steers of different sire lines of Japanese Black cattle.
abstract: We determined differences in the behavior of the progeny of two major sire lines of Japanese Black cattle by recording the behavior of 35 and 70 half-sib steers of sires from fast (FG) and slow (SG) growing lines, respectively. Two sire lines of steers were mixed and allocated to nine pens with 11-12 animals per pen. The proportion of steers lying was significantly (P < 0.001) higher in the SG line (43.4 ± 5.7% compared to 40.3 ± 6.0%). The proportion of time spent eating concentrate feed (FG: 12.1 ± 2.3%; SG: 11.4 ± 2.1%), drinking (FG: 0.8 ± 1.1%; SG: 0.4 ± 0.6%), licking the feed trough (FG: 0.4 ± 0.6%; SG: 0.2 ± 0.4%) and performing tongue-playing (FG: 3.1 ± 4.6%; SG: 1.0 ± 1.9%) was significantly higher in FG, whereas the proportion of time spent resting (FG: 41.5 ± 12.8%; SG: 43.7 ± 10.9%) and performing self-licking (FG: 1.7 ± 1.4%; SG: 2.1 ± 1.3%) was higher in SG (all P < 0.05). These results show progeny of the FG sire engaged in more active behaviors compared to the progeny of the SG sire line.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, Chuo, Sagamihara, Japan.uetake@azabu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Katsuji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uetake
authors.forename: Toshie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishiwata
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kilgour
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D004327:Drinking Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology