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Summary of current knowledge of the size and spatial distribution of the horse population within Great Britain.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Robust demographic information is important to understanding the risk of introduction and spread of exotic diseases as well as the development of effective disease control strategies, but is often based on datasets collected for other purposes. Thus, it is important to validate, or at least cross-reference these datasets to other sources to assess whether they are being used appropriately. The aim of this study was to use horse location data collected from different contributing industry sectors ("Stakeholder horse data") to calibrate the spatial distribution of horses as indicated by owner locations registered in the National Equine Database (the NED). RESULTS:A conservative estimate for the accurately geo-located NED horse population within GB is approximately 840,000 horses. This is likely to be an underestimate because of the exclusion of horses due to age or location criteria. In both datasets, horse density was higher in England and Wales than in Scotland. The high density of horses located in urban areas as indicated in the NED is consistent with previous reports indicating that owner location cannot always be viewed as a direct substitute for horse location. Otherwise, at a regional resolution, there are few differences between the datasets. There are inevitable biases in the stakeholder data, and leisure horses that are unaffiliated to major stakeholders are not included in these data. Despite this, the similarity in distributions of these datasets is re-assuring, suggesting that there are few regional biases in the NED. CONCLUSIONS:Our analyses suggest that stakeholder data could be used to monitor possible changes in horse demographics. Given such changes in horse demographics and the advantages of stakeholder data (which include annual updates and accurate horse location), it may be appropriate to use these data for future disease modelling in conjunction with, if not in place of the NED.

SUBMITTER: Boden LA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3351363 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Summary of current knowledge of the size and spatial distribution of the horse population within Great Britain.

Boden Lisa A LA Parkin Tim D H TD Yates Julia J Mellor Dominic D Kao Rowland R RR

BMC veterinary research 20120404

<h4>Background</h4>Robust demographic information is important to understanding the risk of introduction and spread of exotic diseases as well as the development of effective disease control strategies, but is often based on datasets collected for other purposes. Thus, it is important to validate, or at least cross-reference these datasets to other sources to assess whether they are being used appropriately. The aim of this study was to use horse location data collected from different contributi ...[more]

PMID: 22475060

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Project description:The nature of contacts between hosts can be important in facilitating or impeding the spread of pathogens within a population. Networks constructed from contacts between hosts allow examination of how individual variation might influence the spread of infections. Studying the contact networks of livestock species managed under different conditions can additionally provide insight into their influence on these contact structures. We collected high-resolution proximity and GPS location data from nine groups of domestic cattle (mean group size = 85) in seven dairy herds employing a range of grazing and housing regimes. Networks were constructed from cattle contacts (defined by proximity) aggregated by different temporal windows (2 h, 24 h, and approximately 1 week) and by location within the farm. Networks of contacts aggregated over the whole study were highly saturated but dividing contacts by space and time revealed substantial variation in cattle interactions. Cows showed statistically significant variation in the frequency of their contacts and in the number of cows with which they were in contact. When cows were in buildings, compared to being on pasture, contact durations were longer and cows contacted more other cows. A small number of cows showed evidence of consistent relationships but the majority of cattle did not. In one group where management allowed free access to all farm areas, cows showed asynchronous space use and, while at pasture, contacted fewer other cows and showed substantially greater between-individual variation in contacts than other groups. We highlight the degree to which variations in management (e.g. grazing access, milking routine) substantially alter cattle contact patterns, with potentially major implications for infection transmission and social interactions. In particular, where individual cows have free choice of their environment, the resulting contact networks may have a less-risky structure that could reduce the likelihood of direct transmission of infections.

Dataset Information

Summary of current knowledge of the size and spatial distribution of the horse population within Great Britain.

Publications

Summary of current knowledge of the size and spatial distribution of the horse population within Great Britain.

Similar Datasets

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