Quote Originally Posted by mightymo View Post
I have to jump in here just for a second. Not to argue the merits of what was proposed, but rather to alert some of you as to why action was needed.

Fact 1: Harness racing is dependant upon horses yep, so why charge an extra $5000 for these horses.

Fact 2: Harness racing prizemoney is dependent upon turnover derived from racing. Racing requires HORSES Yep, so why charge an extra $5000 for these horses?

Fact 3: The amount of HORSES being bred each year is dropping at a significant rate There is too many possibilities for this for me to go into.

Fact 4: Unless more horses are bred, we will not be able to fill fields and there will be less races which will result in less prizemoney and which will ultimately lead to less owners and harness racing will die a slow, painful death. You have started to make inferences and opinion here despite prefacing your comments as FACT. Lessened field and less horses = more chances of winning; which will cycle in more horses being introduced through breeding/purchases. Take NSW for example. With the increased prizemoney and trainers coming to the region yes there may be more horses and fuller fields but this isnt promoting or particularly useful for hobby trainers. The full fields will push small time particpants out. (VVV thats called the supply/demand gravitating towards the market equillbrium right?). Some small time hobby trainers have made a killing recently and been able to purchase more horses but that will slow down soon.

In order to address these issues, HRA seeing that we need more horses decided to commission a panel to try and INCREASE THE NUMBER OF AUSTRALIAN FOALS .

Now to date, very few, if any people have argued that the recommendations put forward are not fantastic iniatives. These proposals need to be funded by the INDUSTRY as a whole(breeders, stallion owners and owners). To date, a very small section has voiced their disapproval at some of the suggested measures and that is perfectly fine. My suggestion is that if you dont like something come up with a viable alternative.

Hopefully, this will bring the debate back to the critical issues.

PS - if you feel strongly and have some good ideas, put them in writing. I can assure you that they will be given serious consideration
If foal numbers are down then doesn't that mean demand is down? If the demand was there the foals would be being purchased. Another point saying demand is down is that even with lower foal numbers breeders are still complaining of low sale prices. So if MORE foals are born under this initiative then breeders will lose out more as supply will outweight demand too heavily and sale prices will go down. Either the industry and overpopulated or consumer demand needs to increase.
They are trying to increase consumer demand of Aust foals by taxing imports. Yes this will work. But the side affects are not worth it (a stagnant breed, a fishbowl)
The other way to increase demand is create a better product. This will create a better breed of horse. Side affects will be increase costs for breeders.
Another alternative is for breeders to accept lower prices. But this means breeders lose out on sales and the breed is stagnant.
So my conclusion is the breeding industry is either over-populated or a dying industry. You don't see the pie shop getting taxed by the sausage roll shop just because the pie shop is more popular. Breed to race; and as I said earlier; if field numbers go down then there will always be owners importing in and trying to take advantage of easier competition.