Voluntary Intake and Behavior of Hokkaido Native Horses and Light Half-Bred Horses in Woodland Pasture.

Abstract

To study the differences between Hokkaido native horses and light half-bred horses on woodland pasture from the nutritional and behavioral viewpoint, feed intake, grazing time, moving distance, daily staying area and distance to the nearest neighbor were measured. Voluntary dry matter intake per body weight and metabolic body weight of Hokkaido native horses were higher than those of light half-bred horses (2.0 vs 1.8%, 88 vs 86 gDM/kgMBW), and the body weight loss of Hokkaido native horses during the experimental period was smaller than that of light half-bred horses. Grazing time, total moving distance, especially the moving distance with grazing were longer for Hokkaido native horses than for light half-bred horses. The distributions of distance between the nearest neighbor horses of the same breed for both breeds were similar. The distance from the one breed to the nearest neighbor of the other breed was greater than that within the same breed (P<0.01). The mean distance from the first position of a horse to its position at 1 hr intervals for Hokkaido native horses was 162 m, which was greater than 65 m for light half-bred horses. The daily staying area of Hokkaido native horses throughout the period of observation was larger than that of light half-bred horses. The differences between the two breeds in voluntary intake and behavior seemed to be large, but these differences were not significant.