Chicago (EWA) – The Equine Welfare Alliance has released the first comprehensive analysis of economic forces that have caused major shrinkage of the horse industry in recent few years. The study analyzes the cost of alfalfa, grass hay, corn and gasoline as well as the impact of the extended recession, and explains why breed registries have seen an approximately 50% reduction in foal registrations since 2007.
While all sectors of the economy have been hammered by the economic conditions this new study shows that the horse industry has also suffered hyper-inflation of its costs. The combination has been devastating.
The report shows that most of these factors were in the early stage of explosive increases in early 2006, but that the full impact was not felt until the crash of the financial sector brought increased unemployment in 2008. The study also goes into government policies that lead to these pressures and thus to the collapse.
During the downward trending, state laws closed the domestic horse slaughter plants in 2007, sending all horse slaughter over the borders. With no cessation in horse slaughter during this period, the impact was negligible, at best, and the downward spiral would have continued had the plants remained open.
A GAO study released in June, 2011, assessed the declining prices of low end horses largely to the closing of the US horse slaughter plants. This conclusion was widely ridiculed because the study admitted that the increased export of horses to slaughter had meant there was no overall reduction in the number of US horses slaughtered.
“It is now obvious that the GAO completely missed the elephant in the living room,” explains Holland, “They didn’t even mention the increased cost of feed and fuel, and instead focused on the cost of longer trips for kill buyers hauling horses to Canada and Mexico.”
The new study is available for download free, and underlying data and calculations will be made available upon written request.
Full Report: http://equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/Analysis_of_Factors_Responsible_for_Horse_Industry_Decline.pdf.
The Equine Welfare Alliance is a dues-free 501c4, umbrella organization with over 230 member organizations and hundreds of individual members worldwide in 18 countries. The organization focuses its efforts on the welfare of all equines and the preservation of wild equids. www.equinewelfarealliance.org
Contacts:
John Holland | 540-268-5693 | john@equinewelfarealliance.org
Jeff Hudson | 406.239.7741 | jeff@equinewelfarealliance.org