National Agricultural Statistics Service
 
 
USDA
Washington, D.C.
 
 
Released March 2, 1999, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
 
 
              U.S. Equine Inventory Up 1.3 Percent
 
Inventory of equine in the United States as of January 1, 1999 totaled
5.32 million head, up 1.3 percent from the 5.25 million head on January
1, 1998. Equine includes horses, ponies, mules, burros, and donkeys.
Texas ranked first in equine inventory with 600,000 head followed by
California, and Tennessee with 240,000 and 190,000 head, respectively.
Florida, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania tied for fourth with an inventory of
170,000 head. Ohio ranked seventh with 160,000 head, followed by
Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, and Washington with 155,000 head. An
additional fifteen States had equine inventories of 100,000 head or
more.
 
The January 1, 1998 total equine inventory was 5.25 million head. Equine
located on farms totaled 3.20 million head. Equine located on non-farm
places were 2.05 million head or 39.1 percent of the total.
 
Equine sold totaled 558,000 head in 1998, an increase of 3.3 percent
from the 540,000 head sold in 1997. Texas had the most equine sold in
1998 at 60,000 head followed by Kentucky with 28,000 head, Michigan with
21,000 head, and Florida, Oklahoma, and Tennessee each with 18,000 head.
 
Value of Sales from equine sold in 1998 was $1.75 billion, up 6.9
percent from of $1.64 billion in 1997. The top ten States were Kentucky,
Florida, Texas, California, Virginia, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
  
This release is the first NASS publication of  U.S. equine statistics. Please
see Survey Procedures on page 3 of this release for details concerning data
collection.
 
 
Eq 1  (3-99)
 
 
 
     Equine: Inventory,  1998-99; Number Sold and Value of Sales, 1997-98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       :        Inventory         :   Number Sold   :      Value of Sales
 State :------------------------------------------------------------------------
       :Jan 1, 1998 : Jan 1, 1999 :  1997  :  1998  :    1997     :    1998
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       :  -------------- 1,000 Head --------------     ---- 1,000 Dollars ----
       :
AL     :    130.0         130.0      13.0     14.0        18,200        19,600
AK 1/  :      2.4           2.4       0.1      0.1           176           176
AZ     :    135.0         135.0       7.0      8.0        14,000        15,000
AR     :     68.0          70.0      11.0     12.0        12,000        13,000
CA     :    235.0         240.0      15.0     17.0        55,000        60,000
CO     :    140.0         145.0      13.0     13.0        21,000        21,000
CT     :     25.0          26.0       2.0      2.0        10,400        10,400
DE     :     10.0          10.0       1.0      1.0         4,000         4,000
FL     :    170.0         170.0      18.0     18.0       108,000       111,600
GA     :     69.0          70.0       9.0      9.0        20,700        20,700
HI     :      7.0           7.0       0.4      0.4           800           900
ID     :    145.0         145.0      11.0     12.0        14,500        15,000
IL     :     99.0         100.0      12.0     13.0        18,000        19,000
IN     :    140.0         140.0      14.0     15.0        21,000        22,000
IA     :     99.0         100.0      11.0     11.0        16,000        16,000
KS     :    104.0         105.0      10.0     11.0        19,000        21,000
KY     :    150.0         155.0      27.0     28.0       570,000       650,000
LA     :     65.0          65.0      12.0     12.0        15,000        15,000
ME     :     16.0          17.0       1.0      1.0         1,600         1,600
MD     :     45.0          45.0       4.0      4.0        40,000        40,000
MA     :     35.0          35.0       2.0      2.0         4,000         4,000
MI     :    130.0         130.0      20.0     21.0        34,000        36,000
MN     :    155.0         155.0      14.0     15.0        17,000        18,000
MS     :     74.0          75.0       7.0      7.0         9,000         9,000
MO     :    140.0         140.0      16.0     16.0        24,000        24,000
MT     :    130.0         130.0      12.0     12.0        12,000        12,000
NE     :     74.0          75.0       8.0      8.0         9,600         9,800
NV     :     70.0          70.0       7.0      7.0        10,500        10,000
NH     :      7.0           8.0       0.5      0.5         1,200         1,200
NJ     :     45.0          45.0      12.0     13.0        55,000        58,500
NM     :     64.0          65.0       5.0      5.0         9,000         9,000
NY     :    157.0         155.0      15.0     15.0        45,000        45,000
NC     :    138.0         140.0      10.0     10.0        30,000        30,000
ND     :     40.0          40.0       6.0      6.0         5,400         5,400
OH     :    155.0         160.0      15.0     15.0        27,000        27,000
OK     :    165.0         170.0      18.0     18.0        30,000        30,000
OR     :    120.0         120.0      11.0     10.0        15,000        14,000
PA     :    165.0         170.0      15.0     15.0        44,000        44,000
RI     :      2.0           2.0       0.1      0.1           620           620
SC     :     64.0          65.0       4.5      5.5         9,000         9,400
SD     :     74.0          75.0      10.0     11.0        11,000        12,000
TN     :    185.0         190.0      19.0     18.0        49,400        48,600
TX     :    595.0         600.0      58.0     60.0        86,000        90,000
UT     :     74.0          75.0       9.0     10.0        10,800        12,000
VT     :     19.0          20.0       2.0      2.0         3,000         3,000
VA     :    145.0         150.0      12.0     12.0        58,000        60,000
WA     :    155.0         155.0      13.0     14.0        16,800        18,000
WV     :     43.0          43.0       8.0      8.0        11,000        11,000
WI     :    115.0         120.0      14.0     15.0        18,500        20,200
WY     :     61.0          62.0       5.0      5.0         6,000         6,300
       :
US     :  5,250.4       5,317.4     539.6    557.6     1,641,196     1,753,996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1/  On-farm data only from the 1997 Census of Agriculture.
 
 
 
 
           Procedures for January 1 Equine Estimates
 
 
Survey Procedures:  The 1998 U.S. equine estimates were based on the 1997
Census of Agriculture and two additional surveys. The 1997 Census of
Agriculture, adjusted for coverage, was utilized to provide an on-farm estimate
of equine inventory and sales.  An area frame sample of 16,000 randomly
selected segments of land, measuring approximately one square mile was screened
to locate places with equine. These places were asked to report inventory and
sales information.  This sample produced an indication of total equine
inventory and a measure of completeness of the coverage of the 1997 Census of
Agriculture and commercial operations.  A list survey of larger commercial
operations was also conducted.  Operations found in the area frame sample were
compared to names from the list of commercial operations to remove duplication.
The sample from the list of commercial equine operators included approximately
20,000 places.
 
Information collected during the area frame and commercial list surveys was
used to determine if sampled places were represented in the Census of
Agriculture.  Data from the two surveys were combined with the Census of
Agriculture to provide a complete picture of the U.S. equine inventory and
sales.
 
The 1999 U.S. equine estimates made use of  the 1997 Census of Agriculture and
two additional surveys.  As in 1998, an area frame sample of approximately
16,000 segments was used to collect equine data.  A survey of 20,000 larger
farm and commercial operations was also conducted.  Estimates  were calculated
using data from the two surveys.  Survey procedures ensured that all equine
places, regardless of size had an opportunity to be included.   The samples
resulted in over 37,000 places contacted for the January 1999 inventory
estimate.  Useable positive data were obtained from over 30,000  reports.
 
Administrative data available from auction houses, slaughter data, and other
published equine surveys were during the estimation process.
 
The relative sampling error for the U.S. inventory was 2.7 percent.