APHIS
Stakeholders Announcement
Veterinary Services
April 13, 2007
USDA Releases
Second 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 entitled Part II: Changes in the
U.S. Equine Industry, 1998–2005.
Equine 2005 is NAHMS’ second study of the
U.S. equine industry. Like its predecessor, Equine
1998, Equine 2005 was designed to provide par-
ticipants, industry and animal health officials with
information on the Nation’s equine population that
will serve as a basis for education, service and
research related to equine infectious disease
control.
For the Equine 2005 study, data was collected
on equine health and management practices from
a representative sample of operations with five or
more equids in 28 states divided into four regions.
The 28-state target population represented 78 per-
cent of equids and 78.6 percent of operations with
five or more equids in the United States.
Part II: Changes in the U.S. Equine Industry,
1998–2005 presents a comprehensive look at
trends in the U.S. equine industry. Section I of the
report presents demographic changes of the U.S.
equine population from a historical perspective
using data provided by the National Agricultural
Statistics Service, Census of Agriculture and U.S.
Bureau of Census. Section II includes historical
data regarding equine infectious anemia, West Nile
virus and vesicular stomatitis. In Section III, the
results of the Equine 1998 and Equine 2005 studies
are compared to provide an overview of changes
in U.S. equine management and health from 1998
through 2005.
Here are a few highlights from Part II of the
NAHMS Equine 2005 study:
• Census of Agriculture on-farm horse and
pony numbers peaked in 1910 at 19.8 mil-
lion head then declined rapidly during the
1920s and 1930s. By 1950, the number
of horses