How should one design and position straw feeders in group-housed horses? A case study on occupancy and agonistic interactions at straw feeders in a large group of horses

作者：Nina Puttkammer, Friedhelm Hildebrandt, J. Krieter, Irena Czycholl · 发表于：Applied Animal Behaviour Science · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106423 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Veterinary Equine Medical Research、Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies、Veterinary Practice and Education Studies

As group housing of horses can be associated with increased injury risk especially when there are limited resources, the aim of this study was to allow initial, scientifically based recommendations regarding the positioning and design of straw feeders. Data collection took place in a Hinrichs Innovation + Technik (HIT) active stable with 50 to 62 horses kept in one single group. Occupancy, feeding distances, prevalence of agonistic interactions (AIS) as well as the percentage of feeding disturbances at two different straw feeders were analysed. Equine behaviour was recorded for 6 h/day on 15 summer and 15 winter days. Using generalised linear mixed models, considering the fixed effects of feeder, a fresh straw supply and the interaction of observation day and time period delivered the best prediction for the number of feeding events/h and the prevalence of AIS/h. Here, both feeders differed (p < 0.05) with twice as many feeding events/h, but threefold more AIS/h respectively twice as many AIS/horse at the larger feeder, where conspecifics fed side by side. Sixty-five % of the AIS with low risk of injury and 92% of the AIS with high risk of injury led to feeding disturbances. The latter made up 25% of all AIS in total with no differences between both feeders. Feeding distances did not differ either. The horses tended to use only every third opening space when feeding simultaneously. This knowledge should be taken into account when making assumptions about the de facto animal:f...