Was that 4,000 TB Slaughtered (Today prog R4)

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I work up this morning and caught the tail end of an article on the Today Programme on Radio 4.

If I heard correctly over 4,000 unwanted TB's have been sent to the abattoir in Ireland last year due to overbreeding in the racing industry.

If so, how incredibly sad.

Did anyone hear the whole article?
 
The number will include older broodmares etc etc. It is not nice but overproduction and the huge boom has meant many ordinary mares have been bred from and ordinary horses produced. The economy over here may seen bad but that is nothing compared to Ireland and much as it is very harsh those horses are better off dead than being badly looked after and before anyone jumps down my throat plenty of people have gone from having big business, racehorse etc to virtually nothing and there is no money to spare. The market has gone to the extent that a foal bought for €250,000 at the end of 2009 brought no bid at the yearling sales last year-good pedigree but not the best individual-in previous years he would have at least sold well into 6 figures.
 
Does this include the number that would be slaughtered in a "normal" year or the excess on top due to economic reasons/overbreeding?

It's a horrifying figure but better to be slaughtered than pulling carts in India surely? (just an example of the life on unwanted horses in the past).

I dread to think what happens to unwanted racehorses in other parts of the world (eg Saudi Arabia)
 
photo_jo said:
The number will include older broodmares etc etc. It is not nice but overproduction and the huge boom has meant many ordinary mares have been bred from and ordinary horses produced. The economy over here may seen bad but that is nothing compared to Ireland and much as it is very harsh those horses are better off dead than being badly looked after and before anyone jumps down my throat plenty of people have gone from having big business, racehorse etc to virtually nothing and there is no money to spare. The market has gone to the extent that a foal bought for €250,000 at the end of 2009 brought no bid at the yearling sales last year-good pedigree but not the best individual-in previous years he would have at least sold well into 6 figures.
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So true.
There was so much overproduction before the recession hit, and as soon as it did, there was a massive amount of TB's going through the sales rings without a bid. So many ordinary animals became totally worthless overnight, and Ireland had it much worse, and they produce many more TB's than we do here.
As terrible as the situation with the economy is, and whilst it is sad that so many had to be destroyed, I do think in the long run, it will do the industry a favour. This year you can most certainly see a reduction in breeding numbers in Newmarket because breeding from ordinary animals is not worth the investment. There were far too many being bred due to high yearling prices a few years ago, people are starting to be a bit more realistic. Less breeding means less waste, and that is always a good thing. Nobody wants to see unwanted horses.
 
Most recent figures available from Horse Sport Ireland:

Table 1.1 - Horses slaughtered in licensed abattoirs

Year 2008: Number of horses 2,002

Year 2009: Number of horses 3,220

Year 2010: Number of horses 7,009

Table 1.2 Foal registration numbers

Year 2008: Thoroughbreds - Weatherby’s 12,419. Non-Thoroughbred Horse Sport Ireland 10,424

Year 2009: Thoroughbreds - Weatherby’s 10,100. Non-Thoroughbred Horse Sport Ireland 9,142

Year 2010: Thoroughbreds - Weatherby’s 7,588. Non-Thoroughbred Horse Sport Ireland 7,004 (to date)

The number of licensed abbatoirs has risen (due to demand from breeders and industry bodies) from one to five since 2008.

No record is kept of the breeding of horses slaughtered but industry people say 60-80% are TB.

Better to be humanely slaughtered under Dept of Agriculture & veterinary supervision under EU rules as close to home as possible I think. Abandonment and/or long distance travel to slaughter would not be humane.
 
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Thanks for the info Maxie, interesting reading. It is very sad that the numbers slaughtered has risen so drastically, but I think it's encouraging that the numbers bred have dropped so drastically too. Overproduction was, and still is, an issue that needs addressing.
 
Agree with everyone that while very sad, so much better for unwanted horses to be humanely destroyed than become welfare cases. Oh how I wish there was a way of stopping idiots who indiscrimiately breed horses and ponies from mares who they can't ride either because they are too much for the rider or worse have been retired due to poor breeding /conformation problems. Off the top of my head I can think of 11 foals bred by "amateurs" in the last 5 years which are effectively useless, only 1 has been broken and "broke", & of the others 7 are unbroken altho 4 yo, why? because the breeders can't break them themselves and won't pay for them to be broken. 3were of such poor conformation they had to be PTS.I have a mare myself who is extremely well bred, talented and excellant conformation. She does not have the best temprement and therefore I will not breed from her as A I don't know enough about breeding(leave it to the professionals IMO) and B I doubt I'd be hard hearted enough to dispose of a foal which wasn't going to be of use.
 
I think that the whole question of breeding, certainly within the TB industry, is governed by economics. Those horses, which are or have been in training, and which are now being put down, are those which have failed. The brood mares which are being included, in a slaughter programme, are those which have failed to produce winners.

The breeding and producing of horses for racing is an industry, and a business to those who are involved. It's no different from farming sheep or cattle, and the same criteria applies.

The now re-licensed equine abattoirs in Ireland, which are accepting TBs, will also be open for taking in other horses. This must be a good thing, and of benefit to both horses and their owners. If there is no suitable disposal system for horses, then we are left with major welfare problems, which must be equally unacceptable. Better that the horse has an end value. A value which is not based on a feasible route for the production of horses just for the meat trade, but preferable to the disposal and incinerating costs which we currently have, here in England.

As far as I'm aware, there are only 2 licensed abattoirs, for horses in England. Potters of Bristol being one, and Turners(?) in the Midlands. I wouldn't travel horses vast distances for slaughter. The ethics of it would trouble me, and the economics would make it pointless. If we had a reasonably local abattoir, perhaps an hours's drive, then yes I would use their services, with the obvious proviso, that my horse would be put down whilst I was present, and not left to stand in lairage for days.

I for one, applaud the practical approach which seems to have been taken by the Irish.

Alec.
 
Ireland, like Britain, has a long history of transporting horses "on the hoof" rather than " on the hook" for slaughter, so yes, this is a good thing. There have been several failed legislative attempts to stop the long-distance transport of horses for slaughter; this probably works better than any of them.

Alec – when I was a pony-mad girl in Norfolk I remember seeing horse abbatoirs in our local Yellow Pages. I'm guessing they went the way of other small, local slaughter houses.
 
Alec Swan said:
I think that the whole question of breeding, certainly within the TB industry, is governed by economics. Those horses, which are or have been in training, and which are now being put down, are those which have failed. The brood mares which are being included, in a slaughter programme, are those which have failed to produce winners.

The breeding and producing of horses for racing is an industry, and a business to those who are involved. It's no different from farming sheep or cattle, and the same criteria applies.

I for one, applaud the practical approach which seems to have been taken by the Irish.

Alec.
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Very well said and spot on!
 
Alec Swan said:
I think that the whole question of breeding, certainly within the TB industry, is governed by economics. Those horses, which are or have been in training, and which are now being put down, are those which have failed. The brood mares which are being included, in a slaughter programme, are those which have failed to produce winners.

I for one, applaud the practical approach which seems to have been taken by the Irish.

Alec.
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Because the Irish economy was so buoyant the demand for racehorses was huge and anything was selling-You only have to look through the catalogues of recent years to see how many youngsters were being sold off the back of 'the one good horse' by now three generations back and still making big money-but that has gone- what was €50,000 two years ago is now making €20,000 on a good day. Plus there are any number from families where the first three dams haven't hit the racetrack-often to cash in on that one good relation-and you wouldn't know what infirmities they are all carrying in their genes-the main one being wrong in the wind and there is no one to take a chance on them now. Certainly the number of good looking individuals has fallen-last few years you would discard the majority of the horses for having a fairly major conformation fault-hopefully it will get back to what it was before the boom
 
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maxie said:
Better to be humanely slaughtered under Dept of Agriculture & veterinary supervision under EU rules as close to home as possible I think. Abandonment and/or long distance travel to slaughter would not be humane.
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Totally agree!! There are far worse things
 
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