Return to TFB Main Page
Return to Current Edition
Texas Agriculture Archive

November 18, 2005

Texas A&M considers
equine business center

Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has approved a concept proposal for a new Center for Equine Business Studies.

The center will establish a national horse inventory database and conduct research and analysis on the $112 billion industry.

The center will be part of the Texas A&M University System Agriculture Program and headquartered on the College Station campus.

"What's unique about this is there's no inventory data for horses," said Dr. Ernie Davis, professor emeritus at Texas A&M, who will serve as center director. "It's the only major agricultural commodity that doesn't have market data reports, unlike beef cattle, sheep, goats and pork."

Davis was Texas Cooperative Extension livestock marketing economist for 35 years.

"Our services will be pretty much in line with what I did for the beef cattle industry," he said. "We will be doing economic impact studies for legislation, but also look at other variables such as the cost of preventing diseases and determining if prevention is greater than the cost of the disease."

The U.S. is home to about 7.1 million horse owners. The equine industry has been fueled by increased participation in pleasure riding and reigning, cutting and team roping, penning and trail riding, Davis said.

"We also plan to conduct demographic research studies to further evaluate the different types of individuals involved in these activities," Davis said.

No state or federal funds will go to the center, he said.

Membership fees from equine companies and breed associations would fund the center and research programs.

"This center is for all breeds and performance groups," Davis said. "We anticipate examining a variety of issues impacting the national economy that haven't been looked at before. For example, one area that could be considered might be the impact of roping stock and its economic impact on the beef industry."