Horses reared for meat production can be kept in intensive breeding farms where they are housed in group pens at high stocking densities. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the expressed behaviours correlated with stocking density, and to compare their time-budget with that of wild-living horses. An ethogram of 13 mutually exclusive behavioural activities was developed. Behavioural observations were performed over a 72 h period on group pens selected on the basis of stocking density and the homogeneity of breed, age, height at the withers, and time since arriving at the farm. Scan sampling (n = 96 scans/horse/day) was used on 22 horses. The mean frequency (%) ± standard deviation (±SD) for each behavioural activity was calculated to obtain the time-budget. The associations between time-budget and stocking density were evaluated using a bivariate analysis. The relationships were analysed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r). Our results show that locomotion, playing, and self-grooming positively correlated with a reduction in stocking density, indicating the potential to use these behaviours as positive welfare indicators for young horses kept in group pens. The data also revealed an unusual time-budget, where the main behavioural activity expressed was standing (30.56% ± 6.56%), followed by feeding (30.55% ± 3.59%), lying (27.33% ± 2.05%), and locomotion (4.07% ± 1.06%).

中文翻译：

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饲养肉类的马的时间预算：放养密度对行为活动和随后的福利的影响。

饲养用于肉类生产的马匹可以养在集约化饲养场中，在那里以高放养密度圈养在圈舍中。本研究旨在评估所表达的行为是否与放养密度相关，并将其时间预算与野生马的时间预算进行比较。开发了13种相互排斥的行为活动的人种图。在72小时内对行为进行了观察，根据种群密度和品种的同质性，年龄，凋谢处的身高和到达农场后的时间选择了群体钢笔。扫描采样（ñ= 96扫描/马/天）用于22匹马。计算每种行为活动的平均频率（％）±标准差（±SD），以获得时间预算。使用双变量分析评估时间预算与放养密度之间的关联。通过皮尔逊相关系数（r）分析了这些关系。我们的研究结果表明，运动，玩耍和自我修饰与放养密度呈正相关，表明使用这些行为作为成群饲养的幼马的积极福利指标的潜力。数据还显示了一个不寻常的时间预算，其中表现出的主要行为活动是站立（30.56％±6.56％），其次是进食（30.55％±3.59％），躺着（27.33％±2.05％）和运动（4.07） ％±1.06％）。