The past week has been an emotional one for ranchers in the pregnant mare’s urine industry, said Fred Clement, a producer and president of the North American Equine Ranchers Information Council.
He said he was surprised the cuts to the industry announced Oct. 10 were to take effect immediately. He added that Wyeth, the company that contracts with PMU ranchers, was doing all it could for those who will no longer be a part of PMU production.
“I’m hoping they feel they were treated fairly. It appears it was a fair buy-out program.”
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Wyeth uses pregnant mares’ urine to make Premarin, a hormone replacement that alleviates effects of menopause. The company announced this month that the network of PMU ranches would be cut by about a third.
Clement suggested the media played a part in creating the current difficult circumstances.
Media attention recently was turned to an American scientific study that raised questions about the safety of hormone replacement therapy for post-menopausal women. Once the study became public, he said women who would typically begin therapy were reluctant to do so.
“Those numbers were very, very drastic,” Clement said.
Premarin was the fourth most prescribed medication in Canada last year, according to IMS Health, a private health information company. Numbers from that company show prescriptions of Premarin were at a peak in 1999 before beginning a decline that became more acute this year.
Estimates of Premarin sales outside Canada were not available.
The Saskatchewan Horse Federation last week issued a News release
news saying that the downsizing of the PMU industry will cause a significant change to the face of Saskatchewan’s horse industry. The federation suggested the number of PMU ranches in that province will fall from 90 to about 35, causing some major challenges to the horse industry, at least in the short term.
Among other things, Wyeth promised it will help with the cost of maintaining horses at PMU ranches being cut from the industry until markets can be found. The company also promised transportation assistance so producers could move the horses into a wider market, including the United States. The intent was to prevent a forced selloff of horses in a short period of time.
“Wyeth hasn’t just dropped these people cold,” said Murray Acton, president of the Saskatchewan Horse Federation, in an interview. “They’re working with them.
“It won’t be as devastating as it otherwise could be.”
In rural areas about to lose PMU ranches, community leaders were worried about the economic impact.
Besides providing jobs and other economic spinoffs, the ranches were viewed as one of the more stable livestock industries in Western Canada.
