13,000 Horses Slaughtered If Racing Industry Doesn’t Survive

Sep 04, 2012

Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel Figures Raising Eyebrows

It’s a sad reality that Ontario’s horse racing industry hasn’t been talking about until now –slaughtering 13,000 horses. The 13,000 figure comes out of a 49-page interim report drafted by the Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel comprised of three former Ontario cabinet ministers representing each of the three parties in the legislator - Elmer Buchanan (NDP), John Snobelen (PC) and John Wilkinson (Liberal).

The report outlines the ramifications of the impacts to Ontario’s horse racing industry if the provincial Liberal government’s plan to cancel the Slots at Racetracks Program sees the industry collapse. The collapse of the industry could mean upwards of 60,000 jobs lost and an estimated of 13,000 horses slaughtered. With a limited market for race horses, the majority of the horses would have to be slaughtered or euthanized because there would no longer be an industry that can support them.

The discourse surrounding this policy move is highly divisive and can be confusing to those who aren’t involved in the horse racing industry. The provincial Liberal government has been calling this a subsidy while the horse racing industry is calling it a partnership. Some of the wording of the report is harsh, stating “the original intent of the program was to stabilize the industry —not inflate it to immense proportions,” the panel writes. “But thanks to the flow of slots money … the industry has experienced unexpected, unplanned and ultimately unsustainable growth.”

The transition panel will be releasing their final report by the end of September; and until then the panellists will be working with the industry to find a proposed transition model that might give the industry a fighting chance.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.