Tracking reveals cattle group into spatial and social clusters, but performance does not differ between groups

Abstract

In extensive beef breeding systems, everyday movement and association patterns of cattle are rarely measured directly, yet they shape access to feed and influence energy expenditure, with potentially significant downstream effects on performance. Studies in growing cattle show behavioural and dietary differences between high- and low-gain groups, but measured factors explain only part of the variation, highlighting the value of objective behavioural data (Charmley et al., 2024). GPS biotelemetry provides continuous, observer-independent records of movement and space use, allowing inference on activity budgets, range occupancy and social association. This study monitored cows near Roma, Queensland to test whether unsupervised analyses of movement and proximity reveal discrete behavioural and social groupings and whether these align with performance indicators.