Ask an Expert    Horses & Business Business Savvy       Manifest Destination Q. After giving it much thought, I've decided I'd like to get into small-scale horse breeding as a business. I am concerned about the risk involved in such an undertaking: the competition seems to be fierce in the horse industry. Can you give me some ideas about how to make a start that will result in a successful venture? I know I can produce good horses, but how can I be sure to make it pay? A. Calgary, Alberta-based certified general accountant Fred Mertz, who specializes in agriculture, contributed some thoughts on running a successful farm business: Like other farm businesses, raising horses is a high-risk game. To face the challenge, you need to have vision. Vision gives you direction, like having a map so you do not get lost. Vision requires change and this can only happen if you are willing to change and manage this change. Without vision you make plans to survive, not live, and your stress level goes off the scale. With a clear vision of you personal and business goals you can focus on what your farm will produce and then manage the changes. Breeders need to spend more time learning, thinking, analyzing and planning. Knowing time is one scarce resource, it is critical that horse ranchers team up with professionals for reliable advice and guidance. Some of these professionals are accountants, agriculturists, marketing specialists, livestock specialists and so on. These people help by identifying actual costs, tracking production data and developing short and long term business plans for operations. To be successful in today's world, it helps to have a team of specialists who can deliver timely information to improve the process of decision making. Remember that you need to look beyond the farm gate. Maybe your team of specialists cannot increase profits much, if any. However, they will help you to reduce stress, manage risk and possibly plan an acceptable farm loss rather than a wreck. Back to Top Q. We are first-time horse owners from Western Alberta and we are finding there's a lot about keeping horses that we don't know. For instance, we've been trailering a horse to a local arena so my daughter can take lessons. Last week, on our way home, we were pulled over by the RCMP. The officer asked if we had a horse in the back and if so, did we have a Livestock Manifest. Never heard of it. We wound up with a $75 ticket. I'm still mystified - he said we could pick up a manifest book and that we had to fill out a form every time we hauled the horse - but why? And how are we supposed to know this? A. Tom Crowe, Area Supervisor for the High River, Alberta district office of Livestock Identification Services Ltd. explained some of the rules that apply to hauling horses in Alberta: In Alberta, government legislation as set out in the Livestock Identification and Brand Inspection Act requires that all livestock including horses being hauled within the province be identified by documents carried by the driver of the vehicle hauling the animal. The RCMP officer who pulled you over was enforcing a law that is in place to protect horse-owners (and horses) from theft, which is a real and growing threat to the industry. There are two identification options for people trailering horses in Alberta: the Livestock Manifest you were asked for and the Horse Permit. If you transport your own horse frequently you might want to get a Horse Permit, which is a registered certificate that can be issued by any branch of Livestock Identification Services (LIS) for $3.21 per horse for the calendar year. A brand inspector will inspect your horse and its registration papers (or a bill of sale in the case of a grade horse) and issue a renewable permit that can stay in your truck and save you the bother of filling out a form each time you haul. For a horse that may only be transported occasionally, or for someone hauling another person's horse, you should carry a declaration of what animals are being transported in the form of a five copy Livestock Manifest on which is recorded the name, address and phone number of the owner and the name and vehicle license number of the driver. Books of Manifests are obtainable from any office of the LIS. If you are stopped, the RCMP will take the blue copy. The owner of the horse must keep their copy for two years. This gives authorities a license plate number to trace back to if a horse should go missing. If you were to take your horse out of the province, to a show in BC or Montana, for instance, a Manifest by itself would not be sufficient documentation; your horse must be seen by a brand inspector. A Horse Permit or a Transportation Permit ('A Paper'), which requires a brand inspection, must be carried. As with the other documents, Transportation Permits are issued through Livestock Identification Services, a private organization that has been empowered to enforce Alberta government legislation through its offices and brand inspectors. There's no question that there is difficulty in getting the word out about what the legal requirements for hauling horses are, especially to people such as yourself who are new to the industry or rarely move a horse from one place to another. Our brand inspectors attend all horse sales at which there is more than one consignor and our presence is usually announced at sales, but if you buy a horse privately you may not be made aware of the regulations. The cooperation of publications such as this one is one of the main avenues we have to communicate with horse owners. For the location of a Livestock Identification Services Ltd. branch office near you, contact the head office in Calgary at (403) 509-2088. Back to Top IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: At westernhorsereview.com our 'Ask an Expert' page is not intended to replace diagnosis or treatment of your horse by your veterinarian or other professionals; westernhorsereview.com does not assume any legal responsibilty.