APHIS
Stakeholders Announcement
Veterinary Services
November 30, 2006
USDA Releases
Equine 2005 Report
The National Animal Health Monitoring System
(NAHMS), a program within the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, has released a descriptive report from its
Equine 2005 study titled Part I: Baseline Reference
of Equine Health and Management, 2005.
Equine 2005 is NAHMS’ second study of the
U.S. equine industry. Similar to the first study, Equine
1998, the 2005 study is designed to provide
participants, industry and animal-health officials with
information on the Nation’s equine population.
This study will serve as a basis for education, service
and research related to equine infectious disease
control.
The present study describes health-management
factors that could impact the occurrence of equine
infectious diseases. These factors include: early
identification of outbreaks, reducing exposure to
infectious agents and optimizing resistance to disease
through vaccination.
For Equine 2005, NAHMS collected data on
equine health and management practices from a
representative sample of operations with five or more
equids in 28 states divided into four regions:
West: California, Colorado, Montana, New
Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming,
Northeast: New Jersey, New York, Ohio and
Pennsylvania,
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South: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee,
Texas and Virginia, and
• Central: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
The 28-state target population represented 78.0
percent of equids and 78.6 percent of operations with
five or more equids in the United States. Here are a
few findings from Part I of the NAHMS Equine 2005
study:
Nine of 10 operations (92.2 percent) had 19 or
fewer equids present on the operation on July
1, 2005. These operations accounted for 70.8
percent of resident equids and 70.3 percent of all
equids.
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Overall, 75.9 percent of o