Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Measurements in horses of feeding times of haylage in an active open barn system
In an active open barn, such as Active Stable®, the ratio of roughage to each horse is controlled by a transponder that regulates the horses time for feeding in certain amount of minutes each day. Recommended feeding-times for these kinds of housing systems are generalized which entails that the horse’s ratio will not be individualized. A measurement of how long it takes for the horse to eat a certain amount of roughage is made to calculate how many minutes the horse needs to get its daily need of roughage. This measurement is needed to be able to create an individual and reliable ration for each horse, also to be able to give recommendations for a feeding-strategy in an active open barn.

The aim of the study was to examine if different individuals’ feeding-times of roughage affect the amount of feed the horses gets every day. The research issues for the study were: How much does feeding-times of roughage differ between different individuals’ measurements? Does measuring method affect the horses’ feeding-times? How much do feeding-times differ within the individual’s measurements? A total of eleven horses were used in the study, at ages from 3-17 years old. Two different methods were tested to measure feeding-times, and both methods were tested in the horses’ natural feeding habitat. The first method was to offer the horse five kg dry matter and measure how much the horse would eat in a 15 minute time period. The second method was to measure how long it took for the horse to eat one kg dry matter.

The results showed significant differences between individuals. One horse had significantly slower feeding-time compared to all other horses and another horse had significantly faster feeding-time compared to four other horses. There were no differences depending on what method that was used for measurement.

In conclusion, the mean value for the feeding-time for the whole group was 25.3 minutes. The variation between horses differed 13.8 minutes per kg dry matter and which was a significant difference. Feeding-times within the individual are parting from 6.9 minutes to 31.2 minutes. Choice of measuring method does not affect the horses’ feeding-times. The hypothesis “The horse’s feeding-times are individual” was accepted. The hypothesis “The measuring method resulted in different feeding-times within an individual horse” was rejected.