All is not lost however.  A local Shelby County Kentucky resident named Mike McIntosh has plans that call for building a possible alternate space located off of Dover Road that may potentially be able to be utilized for Kentucky Cutting Horse Association events.  He’s already proceeded to acquire a conditional use permit for the construction of the proposed facility.  The real estate is currently zoned for agriculture.  The Board of Adjustments & Appeals has granted its approval for the plans to move forward.  Some of the proposed improvements include an arena – which the KHCA would be able to utilize for its events.

The permit is expected to be approved at the final hearing to be held late this month.

If the proposed construction of the facility is approved, they may be able to get the facility together and ready for one of the big KHCA regional horse shows in August.  Hopefully, things will go well.  Good luck!

Kentucky Cutting Horse Association May Return to Shelby County KY is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

The Augusta Futurity is the largest cutting horse event in the eastern part of the United States and is being held from January 17-26 2008, and all events will be held in the James Brown Arena.

Libby Bowman aboard her horse San Tule Uno received a score of 221 which beat the 2nd place finisher by 6 points.  With that win, she received a check in the amount of $6135 for her efforts.  For those that are wondering:  San Tule Uno is a 5 year old gelding out of sire and dam San Tule Freckles & Smart Little Thunder, respectively.  Trainer Austin Shephard rode San Tule Uno last year in 2007 for the Millionheir Derby Finals championship with a win worth $300000.

Depsite the win, Bowman was quite humble with her success stating that she had a hard time riding the young horse and that she needed to polish her skills.

Congratulations on a great win, Libby!

Simpsonville KY Woman wins in Augusta Futurity is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

The courts have recently awarded a $100 million judgment in their favor.

The premise behind the case is that when the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association was formed in 1922, that its members were being represented to distribute the tobacco crop to lots of potential customers in Kentucky, the USA, and the world.

Since the Federal government ended its price support for tobacco, MUCH less tobacco is being sold – and of those Kentucky farms that are growing the crop, most of those are under contract directly with cigarette companies – and the association wasn’t really doing anything for its members.

But, the association did hold a VERY large cash reserve of tens of millions of dollars.  The association says that they are required to hold that much in reserve as required by the Federal government for any potential losses on loans made by the co-op Commodity Credit Corp.

The case was filed on December 31 2003 against the co-op, and 54 of its officers and directors.

Kentucky farms and farmers that were a part of the organization can expect to receive approximately $430 each as their proceeds for the case.  Attorneys will be allocated 15% and the original 8 plaintiffs that filed the case will receive a special payment in the amount of $10,000 each since it was their efforts that got the ball rolling on this matter in the first place.  The case was originally filed in Fayette County District Court, and was later moved to Fayette County Circuit Court.

The one upside for the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative is that it avoided being required to be dissolved as was originally demanded by the plaintiffs.

Kentucky Tobacco Farmers to share $100 million is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

The Kentucky Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released crop yield figures and the drought definitely made an impact.

Corn production overall was up approximately 16% to over 175 million bushels compared to the 2006 crop – but this is primarily caused by more acreage being planted in corn in the first place. Corn production yields on a per acre basis dropped from 129 bushels per acre to 112 bushels per acre – a 17 bushel per acre decrease.

Soybean production for Kentucky farms were hurt even more. Estimates this year put production at 29 million bushels, a sharp decrease of 52% from last year’s production in 2006. Fewer acres were planted, and the drought both played a decisive role in the lower figures. Yield on a per acre basis was 27 bushels compared to last year’s production of 44 bushels per acre.

Predictions are already coming in for a good 2008 so hopefully they’ll remain true and we’ll get back to more normal weather conditions for Kentucky.

Kentucky Farms Crop Yields Hurt by Drought is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

Darren Foster

Stephanie Smith

Their job is to assist in providing rural development assistance primarily focusing on thee Single Family Housing Program. Both previously worked at the New Castle location.

Welcome to Shelbyville Darren & Stephanie!

Rural Real Estate Development in Shelbyville KY is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

Still, it did help the Kentucky farms that have housed tobacco for drying.  With the hot and dry weather we’ve been having, the tobacco was drying too quickly and was starting to burn and get a poor color.

Half of Kentucky farms have reported that their pastures were in very poor condition.

31% said their pastures were poor.

A whopping 84% of Kentucky farms said they do not have adequate hay for winter.

Additionally, the dry weather has caused other crops to mature faster than normal.  97% of Kentuckys corn crop has been harvested, compared to 84% at this time last year.  69% of Kentuckys soybean crop has been harvested, compared to 38% at this time last year.

But, its not all doom and gloom.  Forecasts show cooler and wetter weather on the way – hopefully, it’ll be enough to bring some relief to the Kentucky farms that have been hit fairly hard this year.

The Farmers Almanac has predictions for a relatively decent next year for Kentucky – so hopefully those will come true.  We just have to get through this winter first.  Probably would be a good idea if you haven’t already done so to stock up on your hay.  With 84% of Kentucky farms saying that they have insufficient hay to get them through this winter, you can expect hay prices locally in Kentucky to start moving up.

Rain helps Kentucky Farms is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

To address this concern, a new farm bill has gained momentum in the Senate to provide $2 billion for specialty crops that would include: money to buy fruits & vegetables for schools, as well as assist those persons doing organic agriculture.  This amount is an increase of approximately 5 times the amount that was provided in 2002 for specialty crops.

This new bill has 2 groups, the nutritionists, and the commodity subsidy persons, that usually are at odds with one another, communicating and trying to get things sorted out.

Hopefully this bill will gain favor and get government approval.  It just makes sense as a long term investment in America’s future to approve this farm bill and help the farmers, as well as the entire populace overall with their health.

New Farm Bill attempts to address Obesity Concerns is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

This apparently occurred 2 days prior to the opening of the Churchill Downs Fall Meet.

Trainer David Carroll has stated that one of his 3 year olds didn’t look right on Thursday morning and was acting particularly un-coordinated. A vet came and checked the horse, and he was immediately sent to Hagyard-Davidson-McGee clinic in Lexington.

Results came back that the horse has low levels of the virus in his system. [Low levels indicate a much lower chance of it spreading to other horses.]

The unfortunate part is that even though the other horses in the barn probably do not have the virus, they are to remain under quarantine for nearly all of the 4 week meet. Quarantines usually last 21 days.

Horse Herpes Virus Causes Churchill Downs Barn to be Quarantined is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

It refilled the Guist Creek Lake, which is the source of our local water supply.  Over the past 2 days, the lake has risen 56″.  [Its still 33" below normal, so don't break out the party hats yet.]

Fortunately, the persons that had been complaining about the bad taste or smell from the water, should be able to drink again without complaint.  The cooler weather (and rainfall) has removed any potential offensive odors or tastes from the water.

Shelbyville KY Water Advisory Lifted is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

Tough question and 2 viewpoints on this issue.

First, the YES we need disclosure side of things:

These persons view that disclosure would help instill integrity within the horse industry. It would help prevent “back room” deals – and a reputation of sorts would develop for persons that breed and sell horses. Those with a good reputation would likely become more successful. Those with a bad, would like have to get out of the industry.

Now, the NO we need owner privacy perspective:

These persons consider the horse to be the most important part of the transaction, as well as potential privacy & even security issues are raised as concerns. An example, if a farm has a lot of horses, they develop a good reputation, it would potentially become a target for thieves to back in a horse trailer in the middle of the night and steal a few hundred thousand dollars worth of horses in a hurry.

Regarding privacy issues, there are some extremely well known persons that enjoy the horse and horse farms industry in Kentucky – and they don’t want the publicity that can become associated with them. They would essentially rather abandon the industry if they had to become known.

Compromises between the 2 camps are an ongoing discussion. Some persons are advocating a voluntary disclosure – but the NO side of things says that puts extraordinary pressure on the persons wanting to remain anonymous.

Its an ongoing debate that isn’t likely to get resolved anytime soon.

Personally, I think the voluntary disclosure is probably as good as its going to get for the various camps. It gives people that want to develop a reputation, an opportunity to do so. And for those that want to remain anonymous, they can still be anonymous. Would their sales potentially suffer some by remaining anonymous? Probably. But who ever said that privacy didn’t have a price tag associated with it?

Should there be disclosure in the Horse Industry? is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog