THERE are few things more important to any business enterprise than accurate and updated data, a key platform for planning, decision-making and future growth strategies.

Knowing your bottom line is essential, no matter what business you are in, but never more so than in a breeding operation, big or small.

Great strides have been made in recent years but complete industry data is still publicly lacking.

A role model when it comes to having a brilliant database of updated, accurate information to rely on can be found in our livestock industries, particularly the Irish dairy industry. Top-class information is available to farmers from the scentific level right down to the mart data, animals are tracked throughout their lives – the farm to fork slogan rings true – our sister paper the Irish Farmers Journal publishes that indepth mart and factory data weekly for all to read.

Our beef, dairy, sheep and pig farmers have informed reliable industry data at their fingertips, everything from the cull rates upwards. In short, they know where they are at and what steps they must take to improve their herds and so better their bottom line.

The equine industry could do worse than take a leaf out of that book.

Breeders, owners, producers and riders should all be able to easily access data on food chain horses including their various studbooks, age and gender statistics.

The official factory kill rate for horses should be published like it is for the beef and dairy, sheep and pig industries.

As a country, we are spending millions of euros rounding up and euthanising seized horses and ponies but the actual data behind the figures, of what breed, sex and age these equines fall into remains a mystery, publicly at any rate.

We assume we know where the majority of them are coming from but do we really?

Without such verified data to hand, we are only guessing and the true picture might well hold some real surprises.