Replication Data for: Automated, longitudinal measures of drinking behaviour provide insights into the social hierarchy in dairy cows

Here we applied a Bayesian-based, Elo-rating method to assess the winning probabilities of 87 cows housed in a dynamic group and compared the resulting social hierarchies based on their steepness. We identified a hierarchy at the drinker with a steepness of 0.55±0.02 whereas the hierarchy detected at the feeder during the same time period was less steep (0.45±0.02), indicating smaller average differences between the winning probabilities of cows when competing for feed compared to competing for water.

Individual cows’ winning probabilities at the feeder and drinker were moderately correlated (rs=0.55, P<0.001). However, cows at both the lower and upper ends of the hierarchy demonstrated a consistent alignment. We compared drinker hierarchies between periods with THI above and below 72 and found similar steepness (0.54±0.03 and 0.56±0.03 respectively) and the individual winning probabilities of cows were highly correlated between hot and normal periods (rs=0.87, P<0.001).