Influence of housing on weanling horse behavior and subsequent welfare

Heleski, Camie R.; Shelle, A.C; Nielsen, B.D.; Zanella, A. J.

doi:10.1016/s0168-1591(02)00108-9

Cited by 128 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Group-living animals show a greater amount of behavioural patterns than individual stabled animals, due to the possibility of interactions (Waran, 2001). The foals in this study had an amount of social contacts and locomotion activities greater than the group of housed animals studied by Heleski et al (2002) in comparison with single housed foals, suggesting the preservation of welfare regardless of the diet fed. The time budget of foals showed behavioural occurrences similar to the ones observed for a daytime period in adult horses of mixed breed when housed in groups (Yarnell et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…Compared with the individual stabling, group housing allows more natural behaviours and contacts with conspecifics, diminishing the stress level of individuals, and improving well-being conditions (Yarnell et al, 2015). Furthermore, the possibility of moving twice a week into a paddock (Mantovani et al, 2014), in addition to group housing, has surely provided advantages for animal welfare (Heleski et al, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of behaviour in stabled draught horse foals fed diets with two protein levels

Sartori

Guzzo

Normando

et al. 2017

Animal

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The present work is aimed at evaluating the behaviour of Italian Heavy Draught Horse (IHDH) foals reared in semi-covered stables and fed two isoenergetic total mixed rations with different dietary protein levels (13.2% and 10.6% of CP on dry matter). The study was prompted by the restrictions for nitrate emissions in farms of the European Nitrate Directive. One suggested solution is to reduce dietary protein while maintaining normal performance and welfare, but there is a lack of literature in studies of horses. The behaviours of 20 foals of 437 ± 60 kg of BW, aged 379 ± 37 days and stabled in four pens by sex (S) and diet (D) were video recorded and analysed to build a suitable ethogram including 18 behaviours in six categories: ingestion, resting, maintenance, movement, social activities, other. The percentage of the daily time spent in each behavioural category and single behaviours was analysed via a single traits GLM including S, D and their interaction. Daily activity was consistent with existing literature: foals spent about 33% of the day in ingestion activities and 41% in resting, whereas social interactions constituted 8% of the time and individual maintenance <2%. Concerning diet, foals fed high protein spent more time in movement (19.62 ± 0.73% of day v. 10.45 ± 0.73% in low-protein (LP) foals; P ⩽ 0.001), whereas the LP group increased resting (43.42 ± 1.12% v. 38.02 ± 1.12%; P ⩽ 0.001). No stereotypies were found, and daily activity followed the typical values for draught breeds for foals in both dietary groups, a result that suggests the maintenance of well-being after dietary protein reduction. This result, together with the findings of a companion study showing no changes in growth performances of foals, showed that a reduction of CP in foal diet is reconcilable with the maintenance of performance and welfare.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of behaviour in stabled draught horse foals fed diets with two protein levels

Sartori

Guzzo

Normando

et al. 2017

Animal

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“…When paired with a peer, foals exhibit less stress reactions but aggressions do arise and can lead to injuries (Hoffmann et al, 1995). Other practices, such as the progressive retrieval of mares from the group (Holland et al, 1996), keeping foals at pasture in groups (Heleski et al, 2002) or still more so introducing adults with the weanlings (Henry et al, in press) all lead to lowered expressions of stress, including lowered levels of aggression. Space, dispersed resources (grass) and social diversity may help foals go through this forced and artificial separation from the dam without developing higher levels of aggressiveness.…”

Section: The Mother-young Bondmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

Fureix

Bourjade²,

Henry

et al. 2012

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms 1 Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballusAbstract. Horses are highly social animals that have evolved to live in social groups.However, in modern husbandry systems, single housing prevails where horses experience social isolation, a challenge-to-welfare factor. One major reason for this single housing is the owners' concerns that horses may injure each other during aggressive encounters. However, in natural conditions, serious injuries due to aggressive encounters are rare. What could therefore explain the claimed risks of group living for domestic horses? Basing our questioning on the current knowledge of the social life of horses in natural conditions, we review different practices that may lead to higher levels of aggression in horses and propose practical solutions.Observations of natural and feral horses mostly indicate a predominance of low frequencies and mild forms of aggression, based on subtle communication signals and ritualized displays and made possible by group stability (i.e. stable composition), dominance hierarchy and learning of appropriate social skills by young horses. Obviously, adults play a major role here in canalizing undesirable behaviours, and social experience during development, associated with a diversity of social partners, seems to be a prerequisite for the young horse to become socially skilled.Given the natural propensity of horses to have a regulation of aggression in groups, the tendency to display more aggression in groups of domestic horses under some management practices seems clearly related to the conditions offered. We therefore review the managing practices that could trigger aggressiveness in horses. Non social practices (space, resource availability) and social practices (group size, stability of membership, composition and opportunities for social experiences during development) in groups of domestic horses are discussed here.2 Finally, we propose simple practical solutions leading to more peaceful interactions in groups of domestic horses, based on the knowledge of horses' natural social life which therefore should be enhanced (e.g. ensuring roughage availability, favouring group stability,, introducing socially experienced adults in groups of young horses;…). The state of the art indicates that many questions still need to be answered. Given the importance of the associated welfare issues and the consequences on the use of horses, further research is required, which could benefit horses… and humans.

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“…Introduction With their ambiguous status of farm, leisure, sport and « pet » animals, horses are often exposed to different types of constraints that can alter their welfare, such as social or sensory deprivation (Cooper et al, 2000;Heleski et al, 2002) and feeding and spatial restrictions (Nicol et al, 2000). Moreover, horses have repeated and varied interactions with humans that lead to the establishment of a relationship which valence will depend on how these interactions were perceived by both interlocutors and may influence their welfare state (Fureix et al, 2009;Hausberger et al, 2008 pour revue).…”

Section: Application Improving Management Capabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mason 1991; Mc Greevy 1995). They reveal feeding (Nicol et al, 2000), spatial (Cooper et al, 2000), social (Heleski et al, 2002) restrictions or even inappropriate working conditions . Other sanitary indicators are also obvious such as wounds (Cook 2002(Cook , 2003Popescu & Diugan 2013) or limping (Burn et al, 2010) whereas major problems such as back disorders remain underestimated because of their lack of clear visibility (Jeffcott et al, 1999).…”

Section: Application Improving Management Capabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Invited

2016

Advances in Animal Biosciences

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Farming and AGGO Ltd. A further 69 companies are supporting the Centre, including large supermarkets, food producers, farmers, processors and world leading engineering and technology businesses from the fields of Formula 1, aerospace, robotics and machine vision. In addition to the core research institutes, the Centre has links to leading institutes in the fields of sensor development and robotics, social science, agronomy and animal health. By joining organisations in all sections of the supply chain, Agri-EPI will become a world-leading centre for excellence in engineering and precision agriculture for the livestock, arable, aquaculture and horticulture sectors.The Centre will operate a wide range of industry-led activities in applied research and development, demonstration, training and education. It will explore how to optimise the performance of agricultural production and processing systems. This will include livestock and plant growth rates, nutrient efficiency, product quality, and health. Initial areas of interest will include cutting edge technologies such as automated vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or "drones"), new instrumentation to monitor both operations and in-field performance of cropping systems, as well as sensing and imaging technologies to monitor livestock production in areas such as product quality and health and welfare.A central feature of the Agri-EPI Centre will be a series of farms and processing facilities equipped with the latest sensing and imaging equipment. These sites, and associated large-scale production data, will enable the Centre to use detailed analysis of the embedded variance to identify key issues for research and the potential to improve UK production and processing efficiency. The sites will also create a unique resource of locations to develop and demonstrate technologies to UK producers, thereby supporting the rapidly expanding global market for these technologies. Industry-led 'Think Tanks' will use industry data to identify issues and develop projects to address the most important ones. We anticipate a wider role for this process feeding into development of national priorities for basic and strategic research, such as that funded by RCUK. Knowledge exchange will be a significant output of the Centre's work ensuring that the knowledge generated is translated and transferred to relevant audiences.There is a growing realisation that the industry is at the cusp of an exciting phase of development and the new, disruptive technologies offered from other sectors of science could drive a step-change in our understanding of production, our efficiency of nutrient use, and our control of quality. By optimising the performance of the highly complex production and processing systems in agriculture it will be possible to reduce losses associated with such things as low feed conversion efficiency, production of out-of-specification carcasses, as well as high levels of morbidity and mortality. The UK has globally recognised expertise and facilities, as well as a hugely ...

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Influence of housing on weanling horse behavior and subsequent welfare

Cited by 128 publications

References 18 publications

Evaluation of behaviour in stabled draught horse foals fed diets with two protein levels

Evaluation of behaviour in stabled draught horse foals fed diets with two protein levels

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

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