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Characterizing Foraging Patterns Among Cattle And Bonded And Non-Bonded Small Ruminants Using Spatial Point Process Techniques, D. M. Anderson, L. W. Murray, P. Sun, E. L. Fredrickson, R. E. Estell, V. B. Nakamatsu

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

This paper uses the technique of spatial point processes to describe the spatial patterns of freeranging cattle and small ruminants. Two mixed-species livestock groups were monitored while foraging on 410 ha of brush-infested Southern New Mexico rangeland during July and August 1988. The groups consisted of crossbred Bos taurus and Bos indicus beef cattle with white-faced sheep (Ovis aries) and mohair goats (Capra hircus). The bonded group consisted of small ruminants that had their behaviours modified through socialization with cattle to form a ‘flerd’ in which small ruminants consistently remained near cattle. Small ruminants in the non-bonded group had not …