Behavior of Twin Cattle

Abstract

Observations were made on four pairs of monozygous twins, one pair of dizygous twins, and on eight individually born cattle paired up as artificial twins from an early age. Each calf had been reared in a double calf pen with its pair mate from about two weeks of age until turning out to pasture (36–72 weeks of age). On pasture the cattle organized themselves into a herd in which the members of each pair were usually found close to each other. There seemed to be only a small difference in the occurrence of this behavior pattern between the monozygous twins and the paired cattle. It is suggested that this type of behavior may be controlled more by the mode of rearing than by the genetic makeup of the animals involved. © 1967, American Dairy Science Association. All rights reserved.