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ENLARGEOver 50 horses race down the open field of the Duchess Sanctuary, near Oakland recently.
PMU ranching association: Allegations of poor conditions are untrue
Ranchers have been collecting urine from pregnant mares since 1942, according to a nonprofit association of such ranchers called the North American Equine Ranching Information Council, or NAERIC.
Ranchers collect the mares’ urine that is used to make several drugs prescribed to women to relieve symptoms of menopause and to stave off osteoporosis. The ranchers all have contracts with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
Today, 71 PMU ranches operate in North Dakota as well as in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, said Norm Luba, executive director of NAERIC, in a phone interview. About 6,000-6,500 mares are being used on the ranches.
As for the process itself, mares are put out to pasture in the spring and bear foals from mid-March through mid-June, according to the NAERIC Web site. The foals are taken away when they are 3 to 4 months old.
The mares breed from June 1 to August 1. They are then stabled from October through March.
During that time, lightweight, rubber urine collection pouches are suspended by long, rubber tubes from the ceiling of their stalls, Luba said. The tubing goes along the mare’s flanks and under her belly to keep the pouch in place if she moves.
According to the Web site, the mares are able “to move relatively freely in their stalls and are able to lie down comfortably.”
They can’t turn around due to the nature of the stalls, Luba said.
He also said PMU ranchers have to meet certain conditions as part of their contracts with Wyeth. Among those conditions, they have to abide by a recommended code of practice that was adopted in 1990.
He said the contract conditions and code are based on scientific research on what such mares need.
PMU ranching opponents claim the horses seldom leave their stalls during the urine collection season. Luba said PMU contracts require the mares be exercised at least once every two weeks.
Opponents claim the farms deprive the mares of water in order to concentrate their urine.
Luba said the contracts mandate mares receive water at least five times a day, and be allowed to drink as much as they want. An automatic watering system is used to make sure the water is fresh, he added.
Opponents of the ranches also claim the foals produced in the process are usually sent to slaughter.
Luba said that’s untrue. He said the association has developed many programs to help ranchers market their foals to productive homes, including marketing them as show horses, ranch horses or pleasure riding horses.
Both Luba and PMU ranching opponents agree the number of PMU ranches decreased significantly sometime after July 2002. That month, the National Institutes of Health halted part of a large study that had been looking at the effects of two drugs made from mares’ urine, Premarin and Prempro.
Up to that point, studies seemed to indicate the drugs could help prevent heart disease in postmenopausal women. But the NIH study found that women who were taking Prempro actually were having more heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer and blood clots than those taking placebos. The NIH told those in the study taking Prempro to stop.
According to Luba, the industry started downsizing also due to the fact Wyeth started producing a lower dosage version of the drugs, lessening the demand for mares’ urine.
In October 2003, about 35,000-40,000 broodmares were used in the industry, Luba said. Since then, that number has dropped to about 6,000-6,500.
PMU ranching opponents claim many of the mares no longer needed in the industry went to slaughter.
Luba denies that. He said the association and Wyeth have placed 25,000 mares in productive homes since the downturn in the industry.
Luba also said the industry has developed many checks and balances to monitor how the horses are cared for. Independent veterinarians inspect the ranches at the beginning and end of the collection season. Wyeth field inspectors come once a month year-round.
A number of American and Canadian veterinary and animal welfare groups have visited the farms and issued reports saying the animals are well cared for and that opponents’ allegations are unfounded, Luba said.
“No aspect of the horse industry in North America has more checks and balances in place to assure the welfare of horses than we have in our system,” he added.
So you know ...
To find out more about the Duchess Sanctuary, including volunteer opportunities, e-mail Scott Beckstead at sbeckstead@humanesociety.org.
For more information on the Knightsbridge Farm Draft Horse Sanctuary, visit www.knightsbridgefarm.org.
For more information on the North American Equine Ranching Information Council, visit www.naeric.org.
For more information on the National Institutes of Health’s study on the effects of Premarin and Prempro, visit www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers/ResearchInformation/
NewsReleases/Archives/
PR2003/WHIMS-consumer.htm.
• You can reach reporter Kathy Korengel at 957-4218 or by e-mail at kkorengel@nrtoday.com.
Ranchers collect the mares’ urine that is used to make several drugs prescribed to women to relieve symptoms of menopause and to stave off osteoporosis. The ranchers all have contracts with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
Today, 71 PMU ranches operate in North Dakota as well as in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, said Norm Luba, executive director of NAERIC, in a phone interview. About 6,000-6,500 mares are being used on the ranches.
As for the process itself, mares are put out to pasture in the spring and bear foals from mid-March through mid-June, according to the NAERIC Web site. The foals are taken away when they are 3 to 4 months old.
The mares breed from June 1 to August 1. They are then stabled from October through March.
During that time, lightweight, rubber urine collection pouches are suspended by long, rubber tubes from the ceiling of their stalls, Luba said. The tubing goes along the mare’s flanks and under her belly to keep the pouch in place if she moves.
According to the Web site, the mares are able “to move relatively freely in their stalls and are able to lie down comfortably.”
They can’t turn around due to the nature of the stalls, Luba said.
He also said PMU ranchers have to meet certain conditions as part of their contracts with Wyeth. Among those conditions, they have to abide by a recommended code of practice that was adopted in 1990.
He said the contract conditions and code are based on scientific research on what such mares need.
PMU ranching opponents claim the horses seldom leave their stalls during the urine collection season. Luba said PMU contracts require the mares be exercised at least once every two weeks.
Opponents claim the farms deprive the mares of water in order to concentrate their urine.
Luba said the contracts mandate mares receive water at least five times a day, and be allowed to drink as much as they want. An automatic watering system is used to make sure the water is fresh, he added.
Opponents of the ranches also claim the foals produced in the process are usually sent to slaughter.
Luba said that’s untrue. He said the association has developed many programs to help ranchers market their foals to productive homes, including marketing them as show horses, ranch horses or pleasure riding horses.
Both Luba and PMU ranching opponents agree the number of PMU ranches decreased significantly sometime after July 2002. That month, the National Institutes of Health halted part of a large study that had been looking at the effects of two drugs made from mares’ urine, Premarin and Prempro.
Up to that point, studies seemed to indicate the drugs could help prevent heart disease in postmenopausal women. But the NIH study found that women who were taking Prempro actually were having more heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer and blood clots than those taking placebos. The NIH told those in the study taking Prempro to stop.
According to Luba, the industry started downsizing also due to the fact Wyeth started producing a lower dosage version of the drugs, lessening the demand for mares’ urine.
In October 2003, about 35,000-40,000 broodmares were used in the industry, Luba said. Since then, that number has dropped to about 6,000-6,500.
PMU ranching opponents claim many of the mares no longer needed in the industry went to slaughter.
Luba denies that. He said the association and Wyeth have placed 25,000 mares in productive homes since the downturn in the industry.
Luba also said the industry has developed many checks and balances to monitor how the horses are cared for. Independent veterinarians inspect the ranches at the beginning and end of the collection season. Wyeth field inspectors come once a month year-round.
A number of American and Canadian veterinary and animal welfare groups have visited the farms and issued reports saying the animals are well cared for and that opponents’ allegations are unfounded, Luba said.
“No aspect of the horse industry in North America has more checks and balances in place to assure the welfare of horses than we have in our system,” he added.
So you know ...
To find out more about the Duchess Sanctuary, including volunteer opportunities, e-mail Scott Beckstead at sbeckstead@humanesociety.org.
For more information on the Knightsbridge Farm Draft Horse Sanctuary, visit www.knightsbridgefarm.org.
For more information on the North American Equine Ranching Information Council, visit www.naeric.org.
For more information on the National Institutes of Health’s study on the effects of Premarin and Prempro, visit www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers/ResearchInformation/
NewsReleases/Archives/
PR2003/WHIMS-consumer.htm.
• You can reach reporter Kathy Korengel at 957-4218 or by e-mail at kkorengel@nrtoday.com.
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Scott Beckstead, director of operations for the new Duchess Sanctuary near Oakland, releases a large group of horses into a large 200-acre field, recently.
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A horse rolls on the ground at the Duchess Sanctuary in Oakland, recently.
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Scott Beckstead, director of operations for the new Duchess Sanctuary, tends to the horses in a pen recently.
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OAKLAND —The 56 horses start bunching up by the gate that leads out of the smaller field they’ve been confined to. A large 200-acre field lies on the other side of the fence.
“It’s so funny how they pick up on stuff. It’s like they read my mind,” says Scott Beckstead, director of operations for the new Duchess Sanctuary near Oakland.
After all the time he’s spent with the horses, each of which he knows by name, it seems possible.
Then, he opens the gate. The horses stream out en masse. Most are draft horses, standing between 5 and 6 feet tall at the withers, where their backs and necks meet. They weigh 1,500-2,000 pounds a piece. They come in shades of chestnut-brown, honey-red and white with brown blotches.
Given how big they are, they seem to break into a canter, rather than a full-on gallop. Their hooves beat out a thunderous, regular rhythm as they pass.
Three stragglers hang in the smaller field. Beckstead beckons and they gallop out to join the rest of the herd.
The horses are the first of what now are 140 horses on the 1,120-acre ranch. Eventually, that number will swell to about 170. Although most will be draft horses, a few will be quarter horses and once-wild mustangs.
For all, this will be their permanent home. For many, at least in the mind of the sanctuary’s founder, it also will be their just reward for the years they spent “working” on what are called Pregnant Mare Urine, or PMU, ranches.
On such ranches, the horses are impregnated and then confined to stalls during a six-month period each winter. A rubber pouch is suspended beneath them to collect their urine, which is used to produce estrogen-laden drugs used to relieve symptoms in menopausal women. The mares bear foals, which are taken from them within three to four months.
Of the mares coming to the Duchess Sanctuary, some of the older ones spent up to 20 years “on the line.” Some bear scars from the experience, claims Beckstead.
Melina, a black draft cross horse with a wavy, black tail, saunters over to meet a visitor and Beckstead about an hour after the horses were turned out into the larger field.
As Melina nudges up to Beckstead, he gently lifts her head to reveal a white line that scores her black neck. He points out how her lip droops unnaturally.
Both traits, Beckstead claims, are signs of how she struggled when she was hog-tied to teach her to be still when she first arrived at a PMU farm.
Other older mares keep their distance from humans, a behavior he attributes to years of what he contends was less-than-gentle handling on the PMU ranch.
The PMU ranching industry strongly denies such allegations. “(These ranchers’) livelihoods depend on their taking care of these horses,” said Norm Luba, executive director of the North American Equine Ranching Information Council in a phone interview. “It behooves these ranchers to take care of the horses.”
“It’s so funny how they pick up on stuff. It’s like they read my mind,” says Scott Beckstead, director of operations for the new Duchess Sanctuary near Oakland.
After all the time he’s spent with the horses, each of which he knows by name, it seems possible.
Then, he opens the gate. The horses stream out en masse. Most are draft horses, standing between 5 and 6 feet tall at the withers, where their backs and necks meet. They weigh 1,500-2,000 pounds a piece. They come in shades of chestnut-brown, honey-red and white with brown blotches.
Given how big they are, they seem to break into a canter, rather than a full-on gallop. Their hooves beat out a thunderous, regular rhythm as they pass.
Three stragglers hang in the smaller field. Beckstead beckons and they gallop out to join the rest of the herd.
The horses are the first of what now are 140 horses on the 1,120-acre ranch. Eventually, that number will swell to about 170. Although most will be draft horses, a few will be quarter horses and once-wild mustangs.
For all, this will be their permanent home. For many, at least in the mind of the sanctuary’s founder, it also will be their just reward for the years they spent “working” on what are called Pregnant Mare Urine, or PMU, ranches.
On such ranches, the horses are impregnated and then confined to stalls during a six-month period each winter. A rubber pouch is suspended beneath them to collect their urine, which is used to produce estrogen-laden drugs used to relieve symptoms in menopausal women. The mares bear foals, which are taken from them within three to four months.
Of the mares coming to the Duchess Sanctuary, some of the older ones spent up to 20 years “on the line.” Some bear scars from the experience, claims Beckstead.
Melina, a black draft cross horse with a wavy, black tail, saunters over to meet a visitor and Beckstead about an hour after the horses were turned out into the larger field.
As Melina nudges up to Beckstead, he gently lifts her head to reveal a white line that scores her black neck. He points out how her lip droops unnaturally.
Both traits, Beckstead claims, are signs of how she struggled when she was hog-tied to teach her to be still when she first arrived at a PMU farm.
Other older mares keep their distance from humans, a behavior he attributes to years of what he contends was less-than-gentle handling on the PMU ranch.
The PMU ranching industry strongly denies such allegations. “(These ranchers’) livelihoods depend on their taking care of these horses,” said Norm Luba, executive director of the North American Equine Ranching Information Council in a phone interview. “It behooves these ranchers to take care of the horses.”
SEARCH FOR THE HORSES
Celine Myers, whose foundation helped front the money to form the Duchess Sanctuary, envisions the ranch as a haven for former PMU mares, as well as other horses no one else wants.
She has formed a nonprofit organization called the Ark Watch Foundation. The foundation, as well as the Roberts Foundation, donated $3.5 million to the Humane Society of the United States to buy land for the local sanctuary and to help run it for five years. Myers’ foundation also gifted the horses to the society.
But the tale of how most of the horses arrived here began about four years ago.
At the time, Myers, 50 and living in San Francisco, had spent several years working with various animal rescue organizations. They ranged from one that provides refuge to wild mustangs to one that harbors former circus elephants.
In December 2004, Myers heard a Canadian feedlot owner was trying to buy 89 spotted draft horses from a PMU ranch that had lost its contract to produce estrogen. Being spotted draft horses, bred to have the patchy coloring of pinto horses, she thought they would be desirable to horse lovers. She figured it would be easy to find them homes.
But she didn’t know where the horses were. After several months of looking, she found them on a Manitoba, Canada, ranch. A horse trader had already bought them and consigned them to an auction house not far from an Illinois slaughter house. She also learned the mares were eight weeks away from giving birth.
When Myers called the horse trader, he said the horses were slated to be loaded on trucks to head to auction the next day. Within 24 hours, she wired the money to buy the mares. It arrived 15 minutes before the mares were to be loaded.
But the horses needed a home. Myers found one on a 320-acre ranch near Alberta, Canada, in the northern Rockies. She leased the space and named it Knightsbridge Farm Draft Horse Sanctuary.
The mares gave birth that spring. Myers leased an extra 1,000 acres for them to raise their foals on. By June, the Ark Watch Foundation had incorporated and started funding Knightsbridge.
Initially, a trainer worked with the foals and some of the younger mares, with the goal of finding them homes. The proceeds from the sale would help run Knightsbridge.
But after seeing the herd together, and realizing many of the horses were related, Myers decided to keep them together.
She started thinking about the mares’ role in the PMU industry. As some of them were in their 20s, the group collectively had spent 500 years on the PMU lines and given birth to more than 1,000 foals.
“Here we had an opportunity to keep them together and honor their work and let them keep their last foals,” Myers said.
The farm initially did adopt out seven foals, leaving 136 horses at Knightsbridge. Eventually, another 18 horses Myers helped rescue elsewhere were moved to Knightsbridge as well.
By September 2005, the lease had run out on the 1,000 acres. The horses were all moved back to the 320-acre ranch. Myers started looking for a bigger, more permanent home for them. She found it northeast of Oakland where she founded Duchess Sanctuary.
Celine Myers, whose foundation helped front the money to form the Duchess Sanctuary, envisions the ranch as a haven for former PMU mares, as well as other horses no one else wants.
She has formed a nonprofit organization called the Ark Watch Foundation. The foundation, as well as the Roberts Foundation, donated $3.5 million to the Humane Society of the United States to buy land for the local sanctuary and to help run it for five years. Myers’ foundation also gifted the horses to the society.
But the tale of how most of the horses arrived here began about four years ago.
At the time, Myers, 50 and living in San Francisco, had spent several years working with various animal rescue organizations. They ranged from one that provides refuge to wild mustangs to one that harbors former circus elephants.
In December 2004, Myers heard a Canadian feedlot owner was trying to buy 89 spotted draft horses from a PMU ranch that had lost its contract to produce estrogen. Being spotted draft horses, bred to have the patchy coloring of pinto horses, she thought they would be desirable to horse lovers. She figured it would be easy to find them homes.
But she didn’t know where the horses were. After several months of looking, she found them on a Manitoba, Canada, ranch. A horse trader had already bought them and consigned them to an auction house not far from an Illinois slaughter house. She also learned the mares were eight weeks away from giving birth.
When Myers called the horse trader, he said the horses were slated to be loaded on trucks to head to auction the next day. Within 24 hours, she wired the money to buy the mares. It arrived 15 minutes before the mares were to be loaded.
But the horses needed a home. Myers found one on a 320-acre ranch near Alberta, Canada, in the northern Rockies. She leased the space and named it Knightsbridge Farm Draft Horse Sanctuary.
The mares gave birth that spring. Myers leased an extra 1,000 acres for them to raise their foals on. By June, the Ark Watch Foundation had incorporated and started funding Knightsbridge.
Initially, a trainer worked with the foals and some of the younger mares, with the goal of finding them homes. The proceeds from the sale would help run Knightsbridge.
But after seeing the herd together, and realizing many of the horses were related, Myers decided to keep them together.
She started thinking about the mares’ role in the PMU industry. As some of them were in their 20s, the group collectively had spent 500 years on the PMU lines and given birth to more than 1,000 foals.
“Here we had an opportunity to keep them together and honor their work and let them keep their last foals,” Myers said.
The farm initially did adopt out seven foals, leaving 136 horses at Knightsbridge. Eventually, another 18 horses Myers helped rescue elsewhere were moved to Knightsbridge as well.
By September 2005, the lease had run out on the 1,000 acres. The horses were all moved back to the 320-acre ranch. Myers started looking for a bigger, more permanent home for them. She found it northeast of Oakland where she founded Duchess Sanctuary.
‘... PEACE AND QUIET’
On a recent sunny afternoon at the sanctuary, Beckstead, the director of operations, explained his piece in the sanctuary puzzle.
As he talked, he pointed out the sanctuary’s boundaries. It encompasses a large, rolling open area, partly in hay production. The property meanders up to the top of and over several surrounding hills, all largely rangeland dotted with trees. It includes seven ponds.
According to a study done by an Oregon State University rangeland ecology and management professor, the land should accommodate up to 325 horses, Myers said. That factors in that most of the horses are large, draft horses and they would be fed hay about half the year.
Beckstead said he conservatively estimates the horses will eat about 200 tons of hay annually. The sanctuary should be able to grow about half that amount. The rest of the hay will be bought from local sources.
As for Beckstead’s daily routine, he checks the horses twice a day to make sure they’re all physically fine. He also has gotten to know them through “little narratives” he’s received on each horse from the Knightsbridge manager. The narratives tell him the horses’ names and “who’s whose baby, and who’s best friends.”
Additionally, he has been working with seven local companies, ranging from a plumbing contractor to a property maintenance company, to get the sanctuary ready for its new inhabitants. He has been talking to his neighbors about what to expect from the local land and climate.
“The only thing better than getting to be here is getting to know the people around here,” Beckstead said.
He soon will be joined by ranch manager Jennifer Kunz, who now manages Knightsbridge. The local sanctuary plans to hire a ranch hand at least part time to help manage the horses.
As part of his new job, Beckstead has become the state director for the Humane Society of the United States. He works with staff at the society’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. He’ll also help raise funds to maintain the sanctuary in the long run.
Beckstead’s wife, Jackie, will soon join him at a remodeled home on the sanctuary property.
Beckstead said he expects the rest of the horses to arrive in August. After they are settled in, the sanctuary plans to have an open house for the public, probably sometime in the fall.
As for long-term plans, the Humane Society wants to spend some time learning how the land responds to its present number of inhabitants, Beckstead said. “If we can, we would like to take additional horses and adopt them out.”
The sanctuary’s main mission, however, is clear in his mind.
“We want these horses to be able to live the rest of their lives with their family members and friends,” he said, “to live out there with a lot of space and peace and quiet.”
• You can reach reporter Kathy Korengel at 957-4218 or by e-mail at kkorengel@nrtoday.com.
On a recent sunny afternoon at the sanctuary, Beckstead, the director of operations, explained his piece in the sanctuary puzzle.
As he talked, he pointed out the sanctuary’s boundaries. It encompasses a large, rolling open area, partly in hay production. The property meanders up to the top of and over several surrounding hills, all largely rangeland dotted with trees. It includes seven ponds.
According to a study done by an Oregon State University rangeland ecology and management professor, the land should accommodate up to 325 horses, Myers said. That factors in that most of the horses are large, draft horses and they would be fed hay about half the year.
Beckstead said he conservatively estimates the horses will eat about 200 tons of hay annually. The sanctuary should be able to grow about half that amount. The rest of the hay will be bought from local sources.
As for Beckstead’s daily routine, he checks the horses twice a day to make sure they’re all physically fine. He also has gotten to know them through “little narratives” he’s received on each horse from the Knightsbridge manager. The narratives tell him the horses’ names and “who’s whose baby, and who’s best friends.”
Additionally, he has been working with seven local companies, ranging from a plumbing contractor to a property maintenance company, to get the sanctuary ready for its new inhabitants. He has been talking to his neighbors about what to expect from the local land and climate.
“The only thing better than getting to be here is getting to know the people around here,” Beckstead said.
He soon will be joined by ranch manager Jennifer Kunz, who now manages Knightsbridge. The local sanctuary plans to hire a ranch hand at least part time to help manage the horses.
As part of his new job, Beckstead has become the state director for the Humane Society of the United States. He works with staff at the society’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. He’ll also help raise funds to maintain the sanctuary in the long run.
Beckstead’s wife, Jackie, will soon join him at a remodeled home on the sanctuary property.
Beckstead said he expects the rest of the horses to arrive in August. After they are settled in, the sanctuary plans to have an open house for the public, probably sometime in the fall.
As for long-term plans, the Humane Society wants to spend some time learning how the land responds to its present number of inhabitants, Beckstead said. “If we can, we would like to take additional horses and adopt them out.”
The sanctuary’s main mission, however, is clear in his mind.
“We want these horses to be able to live the rest of their lives with their family members and friends,” he said, “to live out there with a lot of space and peace and quiet.”
• You can reach reporter Kathy Korengel at 957-4218 or by e-mail at kkorengel@nrtoday.com.
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