A farm-level stochastic model was used to estimate costs of 7 common clinical diseases in the United States: mastitis, lameness, metritis, retained placenta, left-displaced abomasum, ketosis, and hypocalcemia. The total disease costs were divided into 7 categories: veterinary and treatment, producer labor, milk loss, discarded milk, culling cost, extended days open, and on-farm death. A Monte Carlo simulation with 5,000 iterations was applied to the model to account for inherent system variation. Four types of market prices (milk, feed, slaughter, and replacement cow) and 3 herd-performance factors (rolling herd average, product of heat detection rate and conception rate, and age at first calving) were modeled stochastically. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to study the relationship between total disease costs and selected stochastic factors. In general, the disease costs in multiparous cows were greater than in primiparous cows. Left-displaced abomasum had the greatest estimated total costs in all parities ($432.48 in primiparous cows and $639.51 in multiparous cows). Cost category contributions varied for different diseases and parities. Milk production loss and treatment cost were the 2 greatest cost categories. The effect of market prices were consistent in all diseases and parities; higher milk and replacement prices increased total costs, whereas greater feed and slaughter prices decreased disease costs.

Traditional approaches for equine parasite control are still widely used in the Kentucky Thoroughbred industry. The data suggest that respondents were only willing to make these changes if they could be given assurance that the surveillance-based approach would prevent anthelmintic resistance and decrease health risks significantly for the horses.

This review addresses the question of whether Thoroughbred horse racing is sustainable in the context of current social values. A recently acknowledged framework, known as ‘Social License to Operate’ (SLO), provides us with a lens through which to view and assess racehorse welfare. In multiple surveys of the general public, the horse owning public, and university students, the primary topics of concern regarding Thoroughbred racing show considerable concordance: concern about catastrophic injuries—particularly as related to track surfaces, concern over the racing of two-year-olds, whip use by jockeys, drug/medication policies, and aftercare opportunities for retired Thoroughbred racehorses. Legitimacy of an industry, consent from industry stakeholders, and trust between the community players, are all essential to have and maintain SLO. In the current era of 24/7 global media access, and the proliferation of social media providing an interactive platform for all interested parties, a dramatic change has occurred in commentary related to racehorse welfare concerns. The situation at Santa Anita (California, USA) from late December 2018 through mid-November 2019 demonstrated just how tenuous the SLO for horse racing is. This article will provide a brief review of what ‘Social License to Operate’ is, along with a brief literature review of five of the areas of primary concern voiced by stakeholders.

The ultrasonographic screening techniques can be a useful tool for monitoring ascarid burdens in foals.

In rank-order tournaments, undesirable but output-enhancing activities, such as cheating, may occur. Cheating may be especially tempting when one player has an advantage over another. We show that when audit probabilities are low (high), the leading (trailing) player has more incentive to cheat. Furthermore, we show that ''correlated'' audits are more effective at decreasing the frequency of cheating than independent audits. Finally, we show that differential monitoring schemes, where contestants are audited based on either their initial position or final ranking, more efficiently achieve full deterrence than schemes that monitor contestants with equal probability.

In this article, we examine disclosure as a tool to mitigate the effects of asymmetric information in a Thoroughbred yearling market. If disclosures influence market price, information contained therein must be valuable to buyers and hence diminish asymmetric information. Using public auction data, we find that disclosures do not influence price in a segment of the auction in which an implicit quality certification is available. However, in the other segment, we find evidence that some disclosures may provide valuable information to buyers.

The unwanted horse issue continues to be a major concern in the U.S. equine industry. Nonprofit organizations dedicated to rescuing, retraining, and rehoming unwanted horses are critical in minimizing this problem. This study utilized data collected nationwide from organizations that provide these services for thoroughbreds retired from racing to identify individual horse characteristics that influenced length of stay at the adoption facility as well as characteristics that increased the probability that an adopted horse would be returned to the facility. The results suggested that horses with fewer activity limitations were rehomed more quickly (p < .01), as were gray horses (relative to bays, p < .03) and stallions (relative to geldings, p < .04). Older horses took longer to rehome (p < .05). Interestingly, the results also suggested that gray horses were more likely to be returned to the facility postadoption (p < .02). Results from this study could benefit thoroughbreds retired from racing, nonprofit organizations, end consumers, and the thoroughbred racing industry.

Morale, Principal-agent model, Morale interdependence, D21, D82, M52,