Zum sozialverhalten von milchziegen in großen gruppen

Behavioural observations were carried out on 3 goat herds - one herd were horned (n = 98), and one herd were polled (n = 83). The goats belonged to different breeds or were crosses of these breeds. They were kept in stables all year round, where the horned group had an area of 1.5 m² per animal and the polled group 1.7 m₂ per animal. The observations took place between February and June 1995, 3 days a week, 8 hours a day. Amongst the horned group, 3,083 cases showing dominant behaviour were registered, amongst the hornless group 2,304 cases. Thus 40% of all possible dominance relationships were classified. In both herds, there was an absolute Omega-animal, but only in one of the 2 herds an absolute Alpha-animal. The correlation between the dominance index and bodyweight was r = 0.7. It could be proved through focus animals, that every goat used the whole of the area available to them for their activities. But almost all of them preferred one of the 8 segments. As the goats moved around they were always on the look-out, avoiding contact with those higher in social rank. This appears to be one of the reasons why an area of 1.5 m² per animal is sufficient even for the horned goats. It must however be noted that all resources (feed, drinking troughs, mineral salt etc.) are spread throughout their section of the stable so that all animals are able to reach them with ease.