The geese that lay our golden eggs

20 Feb 2012

Ireland is perched strategically on the edge of Europe, a neutral country with no axe to grind with any other nation, a favourable tax rate and is in the right time zone for doing business while others sleep. We can boast both a highly educated workforce and an instinct to work out problems and get a deal done. Ireland is an export driven economy and we are famous for our agriculture and green image. One of our competitive advantages as a nation is to be found in the thoroughbred horse business in which we are the world leaders. From domestic to global stud farms, to our successes at the international sales ring and on the track. We have represented ourselves and our product extremely well.

 

Xi Jinping’s visit has highlighted the potential trade relationships that can emerge between Ireland and the Asian nations. Xi Jinping focused in many ways on the agricultural sector in Ireland and he himself has a personal interest in the industry having studied farming in Iowa. Agriculture is the established power house of the Irish economy and we have a lot to offer the Chinese nation which is food security conscious with 20% of the total world population. In parallel to this horses (whether sport or racing) are the glamorous part of agriculture. As the Asian markets’ GDP per capita rises so does their taste for luxury products. Nothing is more luxurious than a thoroughbred racehorse. We will increasingly be able to market our agricultural product to emergent economies. And if such trade relationships are built upon it is a natural progression that our internationally recognised horses will be the next highly prized Commodity. With our unique climate conditions and our tradition of horsemanship as well as the generations of selective breeding, our quality product should appeal to these growing markets. Like Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar; a small country can use international sport such as horse racing to promote awareness of their culture and location.

 

The horse breeders of Ireland are incredibly important to facilitate this developing trade relationship. Without broodmares and stallions there would be no Irish thoroughbred horse business. We need to ensure the continuance of our much prized bloodlines. We need to protect and nurture these as that is what our industry is built on. Just like if there were no vines we would have no wine. Like wines horses come in all varieties and prices. Some are early maturing and some need time to come to reach their full potential. Every buyer has a different taste and budget. There are about 150,000 thoroughbred broodmares registered worldwide. Ireland has around 15,000 or 10% of these. In contrast we have less than 1% of the world’s human population.

 

Without the breeders (and most of the Irish breeders have less than five mares) we will have no progeny to go and compete on the global racetrack. They have the longevity to produce numerous crops of foals, yearlings and potential superstars of the track. We need to keep our national thoroughbred herd numbers steady and continuously improve their quality to ensure that we can take advantage of all future global opportunities. If we end up selling all our best breeding stock abroad we weaken our position at the head of the international thoroughbred breeding industry. Collectively we have to strive to ensure that Ireland with its world renowed grassland and climate does not sell off the geese that lay our golden eggs. 

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