Effects of different hay feeders, availability of roughage on abnormal behaviors

No surprises here, allowing horses to graze when they want curbs unwanted behaviors. Of interest is making grazing more difficult so that slower consumption occurred did not have adverse effects while allowing for less wastage and better weight control. When we travel, we have had good results with hay nets that have a heavy web weaving and smaller holes to feed from.
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Effects of different hay feeders, availability of roughage on abnormal behaviors and cortisol circadian rhythm in horses kept in dry lots

J Equine Vet Sci. 2023 Aug 23;104911. doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2023.104911. Online ahead of print.
Authors
Jéssica Carvalho Seabra 1 , Tanja Hess 2 , Marcos Martinez do Vale 3 , Katherinne Maria Spercoski 4 , Ryan Brooks 2 , João Ricardo Dittrich 3
Affiliations

1 Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná 80035-050, Brazil. Electronic address: jessicacseabra@yahoo.com.br.
2 Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80521, USA.
3 Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná 80035-050, Brazil.
4 Department of Biosciences, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Palotina, Paraná 85950-000, Brazil.

PMID: 37625626
DOI: 10.1016/j.jevs.2023.104911

Abstract

Free choice forage could be the best option regarding horses’ welfare but can lead to increased body weight (BW), and waste of hay. Automatic box feeders (BF) and slow feeders (SF) decrease food waste, but it is unknown how these affect the horses’ time-budget (TB). This study compared the effects of feeding free choice hay (FC), to a SF and an automated BF on the horses’ cortisol circadian rhythm (CCR) and behavior by 24-h continuous behavioral sampling (CBS). The study was designed as a 3 × 3 Latin square design with 15 polo horses divided into 3 groups, for 15 days on each treatment. Every 15 days, BW was assessed, blood collected for CCR analysis, the behavior recorded during the last 24 h of the last day of each treatment and the video analyzed with CBS. Time spent on all behaviors was evaluated and used for the determination of the animals’ TB. The effects of the different feeders were analyzed with ANOVA. FC horses consumed and wasted more hay daily (16.6±0.5kg) (P<0.001), compared with BF (10.4±0.5 kg), and SF (9.30±0.45 kg). FC horses had higher weight gain (P<0.001, 23.5±4.6kg), compared to BF (1.2±5.7 kg) and SF (0.37±4.6) kg. FC and SF horses spent more than 50% of the TB foraging, generating a TB similar to grazing horses. BF horses spent less time eating (P<0.001), increasing time spent standing, sniffing the ground, and practicing coprophagy (P<0.050). BF horses showed the highest aggression (P<0.043). CCR was not different among treatments.

Keywords: Aggression; Automatic feeder; Equine; Free choice hay; Limited forage; Slow feeder.