Horse owners urged to fill out horse survey on feed purchases
The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the N.C. Horse Council is calling on horse owners for help with a short survey to try to determine how much feed owners are purchasing annually and where they are buying that feed.
Revenue from an equine feed assessment that is used to promote the horse industry has been on the decline since 2003 despite a growth in the horse population in the state.
"The numbers don't add up and we are trying to determine where the break down is occurring," said Steve Lathrop, NCDA&CS interim horse specialist. "The money generated by the assessment is critical to the work of the N.C. Horse Council in promoting, lobbying and educating about the state's growing horse industry."
Under the assessment, horse owners pay $2 per ton for horse feed, which is collected from feed manufacturers. Those funds are then forwarded to NCDA&CS as pass-through revenue for the Horse Council. NCDA&CS doesn't collect any fees from the revenue.
Horse owners are being asked to fill out a short five-question survey that can be found at http://www.ncagr.com/markets/livestock/horse/feedsurvey/index.htm.
To request a copy of the survey to fill out, call Lathrop at (919) 733-7887.
