Selection of feeding sites by horses at pasture: Testing the anti-parasite theory

Fleurance, Géraldine; Duncan, Patrick; Fritz, Hervé; Cabaret, Jacques; Cortet, Jacques; Gordon, Iain J.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2006.11.019

Cited by 48 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The applicability of the FMH in horses needs to be tested experimentally; if the FMH predicts successfully the overall shape of the nutrient gain function of horses in relation to increasing pasture biomass, but not their choice of feeding sites, this suggests that other factors may influence their feeding choices. A recent study suggests that horses may avoid patches of tall grass of low quality and over-select the patches of short grass far from faeces because of the gastrointestinal parasites (Fleurance et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of sward structure on daily intake and foraging behaviour by horses

Fleurance

Duncan

Fritz

et al. 2010

Animal

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The spatial heterogeneity of grasslands determines the abundance and quality of food resources for grazing animals. As plants mature, they increase in mass, which allows greater instantaneous intake rates, but the cell wall concentrations increase too, reducing diet quality. In ruminants, daily intake rates are often constrained by the time needed for the ingesta to pass through the rumen, which is influenced by the rate of digestion. It has been suggested that the digestive constraint should have much less effect on hindgut fermenters such as equids. Horses play an increasing role in the management of grasslands in Europe, but the data on the influence of the heterogeneity of the vegetation on their daily intake and foraging behaviour are sparse. We report here the results of a preliminary study concerning the effects of sward structure on nutrient assimilation and the use of patches of different heights by horses grazing successively a short immature, a tall mature and a heterogeneous pastures (with short and tall swards). Daily nutrient assimilation was higher in the heterogeneous pasture compared to the short (135%) and the tall (155%) ones. The digestive constraints may have limited voluntary intake by horses on the tall swards. In the heterogeneous pasture, the mean height used for feeding (6 to 7 cm) by horses was intermediate between the heights used in the short (4 to 5 cm) and tall pastures (22 to 23 cm), and the animals may thus have benefited from both short swards of high quality and tall swards offering a higher instantaneous intake rate.Keywords: foraging, functional response, horses, nutrient acquisition, sward heterogeneity ImplicationsThe horses maximised their digestible organic matter intake (DOMI) on the pasture, where a wide range of sward heights was available. They appeared to benefit from using both short swards of high quality and tall swards offering a high instantaneous intake rate. These results suggest that nutrient assimilation by horses is affected both by digestive constraints (the time needed to process food from tall mature swards) and by the availability of good quality (short) swards. If these results are confirmed, it will be necessary to re-evaluate the concept of 'horse-sick' pastures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of sward structure on daily intake and foraging behaviour by horses

Fleurance

Duncan

Fritz

et al. 2010

Animal

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“…They have a higher preference for grass and make less use of forbs and legumes compared to ruminants [25,26]. Finally, horses use pasture in a patchy manner: the foraging areas are grazed closely while latrine areas are rejected, which creates more heterogeneous swards than those managed through cattle grazing [25]. Overgrazing at preferred areas may, however, cause soil erosion problems on horse pastures [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…pratense) and take only small amounts of others [65]. They can select plants of high protein content and graze mostly on areas with the best nutrient value and quality [25,28,66], such as younger and leafy stage vegetation with lower NDF content. By discarding plant species that are known to be avoided by horses in Finland, we approximated the nutrient intake from a diverse vegetation sward.…”

Section: Nutrient Intakes and Animal Wellbeingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Secondly, horses have a highly selective grazing behavior [20,23,24]. They have a higher preference for grass and make less use of forbs and legumes compared to ruminants [25,26]. Finally, horses use pasture in a patchy manner: the foraging areas are grazed closely while latrine areas are rejected, which creates more heterogeneous swards than those managed through cattle grazing [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Horses are also reputed for trampling ancient remains or gnawing on trees on semi-natural pastures [28]. Therefore, management of species-rich grassland for horses should take into account equine-specific grazing preferences and forage nutritive values on such grasslands [25,29]. Thus, there is a need for equine pasturing guidelines because the management context is different from that developed for grasslands used for livestock [30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Horse Welfare and Natural Values on Semi-Natural and Extensive Pastures in Finland: Synergies and Trade-Offs

Saastamoinen

Herzon

Särkijärvi

et al. 2017

Land

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Abstract:In several regions in Europe, the horse is becoming a common grazer on semi-natural and cultivated grasslands, though the pasturing benefits for animals and biodiversity alike are not universally appreciated. The composition of ground vegetation on pastures determines the value of both the forage for grazing animals as well as the biodiversity values for species associated with the pastoral ecosystems. We studied three pastures, each representing one of the management types in southern Finland (latitudes 60-61): semi-natural, permanent and cultivated grassland. All have been grazed exclusively by horses for several decades. We aimed to evaluate feeding values and horses' welfare, on the one hand, and impacts of horses on biodiversity in boreal conditions, on the other. Though there were differences among the pastures, the nutritional value of the vegetation in all three pastures met the energy and protein needs of most horse categories through the whole grazing season. Some mineral concentrations were low compared to the requirements, and supplementation of Cu, Zn and Na is needed to balance the mineral intake. Only minor injuries or health problems were observed. All metrics of biological values, as well as number of species eaten by horses, were particularly high in a semi-natural pasture compared to other pasture types. The highest ratio of species cover preferred by horses to the total cover was found in the permanent pasture, while at the regularly re-seeded pasture, there was a particularly high cover of species, indicating low biodiversity values on grassland. There was, therefore, a trade-off between the quantity of forage and biological values in pastures, but not in quality. The results provide clear indication both for the suitability of the studied pasture types to horses and for grazing of horses for biodiversity management. In each pasture type, specific management is needed to simultaneously achieve objectives of adequate pasturing and biodiversity. The short duration (only one grazing season) must be considered when applying the results.

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Spacing behaviors and spatial recruitment of a wild rodent in response to parasitism

Shaner

et al. 2017

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Host spacing may benefit the parasites (e.g., enhance parasite transmission) or the hosts (e.g., reduce host infection), with profound consequences in epidemiology and host-parasite dynamics. In this study, we tested parasitism effects of intestinal nematodes on spacing behaviors and spatial recruitment of the Taiwan field mouse (Apodemus semotus). We tracked the locations of resident mice for 84% of the host population, with half of them experimentally reduced of their parasitic infection. We interpolated geo-tagged data on parasite egg counts of the resident mice to create an infection risk landscape and extracted the risks to the locations of newly recruited mice. We performed parentage analysis to identify mother-offspring pairs, which allowed us to test whether in situ recruits moved toward lower-risk areas during natal dispersal. We found that the less-infected mice became spatially aggregated compared to the more heavily infected, and the juvenile recruits occurred preferentially in lower-risk areas compared to the landscape, the residents, and their natal places. The spatial aggregation of less-infected resident mice and the association of juvenile recruits with lower-risk areas could hinder parasite transmission. This study provided some empirical support for a potential link between host recruitment process and parasitism risks.

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Selection of feeding sites by horses at pasture: Testing the anti-parasite theory

Cited by 48 publications

References 57 publications

Influence of sward structure on daily intake and foraging behaviour by horses

Influence of sward structure on daily intake and foraging behaviour by horses

Horse Welfare and Natural Values on Semi-Natural and Extensive Pastures in Finland: Synergies and Trade-Offs

Spacing behaviors and spatial recruitment of a wild rodent in response to parasitism

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