might otherwise be thought, it is the middle range of goats that are the most productive. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Dominance; Goat; Feeding and nutrition; Production; Social behaviour
1. Introduction
During the last 30 years, with the intensification of animal production, the animals’ way of life has become less and less natural. Research has been particularly devoted to
problems concerning nutrition, reproduction and disease. Nevertheless, it is important for the mechanisms of animal behaviour to be well known so that efficient management
techniques can be developed for optimum production as well as the animals’ welfare Ž
. Kolb, 1971; Bouissou, 1980 .
Ž .
Kaufmann 1983 defined the dominancersubordinance behaviour as a relationship Ž
. Ž
between two individuals in which one the subordinate
defers to the other the
. dominant in contest situations. This relationship is often determined by a mutual
assessment, which may range from simple recognition to ritualized displays or serious Ž
fights. The concept of dominance has been continuously debated e.g. Rowell, 1966, .
1974; Bernstein, 1970, 1976, 1981; Hinde, 1978, 1983; Barrette and Vandal, 1986 . Ž
Although several authors tend to link social dominance with aggression Brown, 1975; .
Wilson, 1975; Wittenberger, 1981; Alcock, 1984 , others consider that passive supplant- ing and avoidance are better indications of stable relationships, while fights are more
Ž .
likely to indicate disputed status Rowell, 1966 . The social hierarchy permits successful coexistence in social communities. Social
interactions between animals often involve some degree of conflict, and rank has a pronounced effect on the individual. Individuals of low status may suffer from reduced
access to resources such as food, resting places, shade, mating, and general inhibition of activity. On the contrary, higher animals in a dominance order generally have priority
Ž access to limited resources Fraser, 1974; Syme et al., 1975; Clutton-Brock and Harvey,
1976; Arnold and Dudzinski, 1978; Syme and Syme, 1979; Appleby, 1980; Bouissou, 1980; Reinhardt and Flood, 1983; Lynch et al., 1985; Bennett et al., 1985; Sherwin and
. Jhonson, 1987; Alados and Escos, 1992 .
Ž Some studies assert that dominance is a relatively mild phenomenon in goats Stewart
. Ž
and Scott, 1947; Scott, 1948 . This conclusion contrasts with that of others Pretorius, .
1970; Schaller, 1977; Kilgour and Dalton, 1984; Hart, 1985 , who assert that there exists a clear structure of dominance in goat herds. Various projects that have attempted to
relate social hierarchy to production have obtained some contradictory results. The effect of social rank on productivity can be considerable, depending on the species and type of
Ž .
management system Syme and Syme, 1979 . Goats play a fundamental role in the economy of the depressed areas, such as the arid
areas of Spain. Nevertheless, the data on the influence of the social behaviour of the goat in the production are scarce. Because of this, the objectives of this paper are: to
study if a stable hierarchical order exists in a flock of goats, to determine the characteristics that influence this hierarchy, to settle down if dominance has some effect
on the feeding of animals and consequently in their production. This will allow taking of measures to improve the management of the flock, and therefore to increase their
production and profitability.
2. Materials and methods
