Horse-drawn carriage industry supporters in Victoria plan rally

May 22, 2019

VICTORIA - Supporters of Victoria's horse-drawn carriages plan a rally on Thursday after learning city councillors have asked staff to examine phasing out the industry.

A council decision last week asked staff to consider the effect of phasing out horse-drawn carriage businesses by 2023.

Donna Friedlander, spokeswoman for the industry and also the owner-operator of Tally-Ho Carriage Tours, says the council request is shocking.

She says the city reached a renewed, five-year agreement with carriage companies in 2018 and her business responded by investing in a new barn for its animals, while Victoria Carriage Tours purchased new horses.

Friedlander says the industry brings considerable tourism revenue to the region because, for many visitors, a horse-drawn ride through Victoria's streets is on their bucket list.

The rally is set for 5:30 p.m., Thursday, outside city hall.

Coun. Ben Isitt has floated the idea of electric carriages but Friedlander says tourists choose carriage rides specifically because of the horses.

"It's a bucket list item for people, of things to do. And we really want to make sure that, you know, we're not a transportation company," she says.

"We're not getting people from Point A to Point B, we're giving people experiences with these horses, and that's really what people are looking for."

Electric carriages cost about $35,000 each, Friedlander says, and she believes there is little demand for them, adding she will shut down her company if Victoria tries to enforce how she runs it.

"Nobody's in this business because we want to drive a carriage. We're in this business because we love horses," she says.

Source : FCC

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”