Farming & Breeding
Fields Family:
It was their daughter's love of riding and showing quarter horses that pulled Khris and Wayne Fields of Walton into the business of horse breeding. And it was a statewide incentive program that got their business off the ground quickly. The program, they say, will help revitalize the industry. "It took a start-up business and it has basically ensured the success of that business because of the demand," Khris says.
The Fieldses say the effect is being felt statewide, with breeders from other states moving here to take advantage of the incentives. Some are calling it a "gold rush" for the industry. In 2006, Kentucky started the breeders' incentive fund, which reroutes tax revenue from stud fees to subsidies for thoroughbreds and 10 other breeds, including quarter horses. Thoroughbreds have received the majority of the payouts - $12.5 million out of $15 million allocated. But, as the couple has seen, the impact has also been huge for the quarter horse industry. They stress that the fund is self-generated from the industry - not from other taxpayers. "This program did not require any new tax, so there are no taxes on the ordinary Kentuckian," says Wayne, who is a district director for the Kentucky Quarter Horse Association. "All the tax comes from horse people." Each stallion that comes into the state generates a 6 percent sales tax on the stud fee. Quarter horses use artificial insemination, and can breed 150-200 mares a year, each bringing in $1,000 to $3,000 in stud fees. The Fieldses bought 22 acres near Crittenden in January for their breeding facility. Since October, all of their stalls have been booked through 2008 - and there's a waiting list for 2009.
"Our stallion is booked full," says Khris. "I got two mares from Massachusetts last week - mares from all over the country are shipping into us. Those would have not had happened without the program."
To keep up with the demand the incentive program has created, Khris says they're adding another barn full of stalls, increasing the number of spaces from 15 to 34. They've also had to lease 37 acres from a neighbor.
Quarter horse owners from around the nation - and world - are sending their mares to breeders such as the Fieldses to take advantage of the rewards a Kentucky-bred horse can generate over its lifetime. To qualify, the horses must be bred and foaled in Kentucky.
"We just sold a 6-month-old horse to (a buyer) in Maryland, and she will take that horse and show it all over the country," says Khris. "If he were not eligible for the program, the owner would get $27 for every (show) point he earned. This year, the Kentucky program paid out in excess of $2,700 for every point."
Next year, the total amount paid in quarter horse rewards figures to be $447,000 - a 21 percent increase over this year. Khris Fields says she's encouraged by the growth she's seen, and that the increased demand will have a trickle-down effect, boosting employment opportunities statewide.
"With all these mares moving into Kentucky, that provides jobs for vets, stall cleaners, suppliers," says Khris. "Now, everybody has a really healthy, thriving job, which is a trickle-down effect for the state's economy."
The Fieldses already had help from a full-time staffer and a college-student intern. In January they'll welcome another full-timer to the staff - a specialist from Minnesota to help round out their expanding family business.