Province Kicks-in $30-Million for Ontario Racehorse Breeding

Jun 14, 2013

Province Kicks-in $30-Million for Ontario Racehorse Breeding

The Ontario government said it will extend its support for the province’s Horse Improvement Program, which aims to encouraging horse breeding. The extension will last until 2015. Over the next two years, $30-million will be allocated to support equine breeding.

The program was initiated by the Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel which had recommended it. The group was created after the Liberal government announced it was ending the Slots at Racetracks Program.

“Continuing to invest in this forward-looking program gives the horse racing and breeding industry confidence there will be a future here for Ontario-bred racehorses," said Kathleen Wynne, Premier and Minister of Agriculture and Food.

One of the panelists, former tory minister John Snobelen, called the plan “great news for Ontario-bred weanlings and yearlings and a strong encouragement for breeders in rural Ontario who are building on a legacy of great racehorses."

The transition panel is expected to resume talks with industry stakeholders starting June 21 to discuss options of how to best integrate horseracing into the provinces gaming plan.

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.