Breeder Ethics and Profit
This page is my opinion and may digress into a facetious rant. You have been warned! No one in particular is being attacked here and I haven't been personally attacked. I just think we as animal breeders need to grow ourselves some ovaries and/or testicles and do a better job at valuing our work.
The back and forth...
A common thread among animal breeders, buyers, and animal rights activists, is making money on animal breeding. Generally, the argument goes like this:
ARA: Anyone who charges money is a puppy mill or backyard breeder and is participating in animal cruelty
Buyer: You are over charging so you can make money off me!
Breeder: No, I swear! I'm not making any money!
ARA: Anyone who charges money is a puppy mill or backyard breeder and is participating in animal cruelty
Buyer: You are over charging so you can make money off me!
Breeder: No, I swear! I'm not making any money!
No, No, NO. Stop it, breeders.
I'll admit I've even made a few of these arguments in my life, but it's time to STAHP!
Why does this have to be a contest on who is making the least money? How does making less money make you a better person, or a better caretaker of animals? It doesn't make any sense! Joan of Arc was a martyr, and she didn't live very long at all, now did she? She would have made a TERRIBLE animal breeder.
Furthermore --- why is it fine for stock brokers to make 10% by shuffling money around in the ether, while people like farmers, and animal breeders, who produce food, that sustains human life, are supposed to operate at a loss, or else be considered unethical?
Allow me to demonstrate the logical conclusion of a profitable/nonprofitable mindset.
Why does this have to be a contest on who is making the least money? How does making less money make you a better person, or a better caretaker of animals? It doesn't make any sense! Joan of Arc was a martyr, and she didn't live very long at all, now did she? She would have made a TERRIBLE animal breeder.
Furthermore --- why is it fine for stock brokers to make 10% by shuffling money around in the ether, while people like farmers, and animal breeders, who produce food, that sustains human life, are supposed to operate at a loss, or else be considered unethical?
Allow me to demonstrate the logical conclusion of a profitable/nonprofitable mindset.
Properties of Profitable Businesses versus Laborers of Love (hence forth referred to as LOL)
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What I mean by this is -- you are allowed to LOVE your BUSINESS. That's just fine! It's OKAY to not be profitable, too. In fact, it's okay to just have a hobby and be fine with losing money!
But it's NOT OKAY to trash people who are putting the forethought into treating their animal breeding like a business, and it's NOT OKAY to put all the work into doing what a Profitable Businessperson does (and most good breeders put in a lot of work) and THEN MINIMIZE IT and acting like it is "just a labor of love...."
This attitude of martyrdom and demonizing profitability causes so much divisiveness among animal breeders and actually DEVALUES the animals themselves.
But it's NOT OKAY to trash people who are putting the forethought into treating their animal breeding like a business, and it's NOT OKAY to put all the work into doing what a Profitable Businessperson does (and most good breeders put in a lot of work) and THEN MINIMIZE IT and acting like it is "just a labor of love...."
This attitude of martyrdom and demonizing profitability causes so much divisiveness among animal breeders and actually DEVALUES the animals themselves.
Devaluing animals?!!?
Yes -- let's try an example.
Let's say I have a rabbitry -- I work for an average of one hour per day, 365 days per year. Let's say that's worth a paltry $6.50/hr or $2373/yr
Oh, I can hear you chortling, you animal breeder martyrs. Yes. You actually need to value your work. Start doing it!
Let's say I also spend about $150/yr in facilities -- a bit of electricity, the yearly portion of cage costs, etc.
So that makes $2523 per year in profit we need to be making right off the bat.
To get a rabbit to marketable age, maybe I sell at 16 weeks, let's say I spoil the bunnies and it costs about $8 in feed and hay and ivermectin and whatever fun treats, a fraction of that supporting the parents costs.
So if I want to break even on just the rabbits, I need to add up my costs, and divide that by the number of rabbits I will sell
(2523+ 8*R)/R = Sale Price
Let's ask the kind folks on Fooplot to show that to us:
You can play with the graph at this link--
http://fooplot.com/plot/rcrzqekkzu
Let's say I have a rabbitry -- I work for an average of one hour per day, 365 days per year. Let's say that's worth a paltry $6.50/hr or $2373/yr
Oh, I can hear you chortling, you animal breeder martyrs. Yes. You actually need to value your work. Start doing it!
Let's say I also spend about $150/yr in facilities -- a bit of electricity, the yearly portion of cage costs, etc.
So that makes $2523 per year in profit we need to be making right off the bat.
To get a rabbit to marketable age, maybe I sell at 16 weeks, let's say I spoil the bunnies and it costs about $8 in feed and hay and ivermectin and whatever fun treats, a fraction of that supporting the parents costs.
So if I want to break even on just the rabbits, I need to add up my costs, and divide that by the number of rabbits I will sell
(2523+ 8*R)/R = Sale Price
Let's ask the kind folks on Fooplot to show that to us:
You can play with the graph at this link--
http://fooplot.com/plot/rcrzqekkzu
EWW GROSS A GRAPH
Calm down, you raging ENFPs. It's not so bad. The Y axis (up and down) is the price we could sell our rabbits for. The X axis (left to right) is the number of rabbits we would need to sell, at that price in order to break even. Even a small size rabbitry can aim to produce about 20 sales in a year, they do breed like rabbits, so the graph lands at about $125 per rabbit. I have angoras, so this is actually a pretty reasonable market price.
But you will notice that as soon as we hit 80 rabbits, our sale price levels out at about $40 on average per rabbit. Not too bad for most pedigreed breeds of rabbit in many markets, and you could do that with only 8-12 litters in a year. Not out of reach for someone with 3 or 4 does! (Will you actually sell this many in your market? Probably not, but it's a start)
Of course, we can fiddle with this by including other things -- spending less time or paying ourselves less for doing rabbitry work, decreasing feed cost per rabbit ($8 is pretty high) or facility costs, ensuring we have desirable purebreds with pedigrees, selling other products like meat, pelts, fiber, and compost...the possibilities are endless.
In reality -- it's actually pretty tough to make a true profit, and I don't count plenty of costs (*cough cough* SHOWS *cough*) in these calculations, but at least we took a look and thought about it right?
But you will notice that as soon as we hit 80 rabbits, our sale price levels out at about $40 on average per rabbit. Not too bad for most pedigreed breeds of rabbit in many markets, and you could do that with only 8-12 litters in a year. Not out of reach for someone with 3 or 4 does! (Will you actually sell this many in your market? Probably not, but it's a start)
Of course, we can fiddle with this by including other things -- spending less time or paying ourselves less for doing rabbitry work, decreasing feed cost per rabbit ($8 is pretty high) or facility costs, ensuring we have desirable purebreds with pedigrees, selling other products like meat, pelts, fiber, and compost...the possibilities are endless.
In reality -- it's actually pretty tough to make a true profit, and I don't count plenty of costs (*cough cough* SHOWS *cough*) in these calculations, but at least we took a look and thought about it right?
Good job! Pat yourself on the Back
Now, let's say you look around and see other people selling rabbits on craigslist for $5........
I hereby challenge you to find another place where you can get a rabbit dinner for less than triple that.
And honestly -- It may not be possible to make your graph even work because of these people. The market is just too saturated (have a look at horses, alpacas, some breeds of dog...) so I would recommend not even breeding animals that are going for prices that you can't maintain, no matter how you tweak the numbers. If everyone just made these little graphs, and didn't breed that animal if prices were too low, prices would go up and people would get *gasp* fair compensation for their work!
Those market saturating, lazy breeding, willy-nilly pricing people, my friend, are LOLs. They didn't take the time to consider what they are putting in, and will not take the time to really consider what the animal is worth. They also likely didn't take the time to consider other important things...
THAT SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE A BYB/PUPPY MILL
Yep, in our current breeder culture, lazy breeders are BYBs and Puppy Mills, and "JUST IN IT FOR THE MONEY"
But if you stop for a second and do the math, THEY CAN'T POSSIBLY BE MAKING MONEY, because they must be feeding them SOMETHING.
so clearly, MAKING MONEY IS NOT THE PROBLEM HERE.
Sure, there exist people who get subpar stock and sell them for the same prices as your beautiful champions. But let's not mix up the cause and effect here. Lame breeders are just as likely to undercut you or give away their animals when their motivation/lack of planning/ financial situation forces them to. Don't be afraid of being profitable just because making money and bad breeding have somehow become woven together in our society's narrative.
But if you stop for a second and do the math, THEY CAN'T POSSIBLY BE MAKING MONEY, because they must be feeding them SOMETHING.
so clearly, MAKING MONEY IS NOT THE PROBLEM HERE.
Sure, there exist people who get subpar stock and sell them for the same prices as your beautiful champions. But let's not mix up the cause and effect here. Lame breeders are just as likely to undercut you or give away their animals when their motivation/lack of planning/ financial situation forces them to. Don't be afraid of being profitable just because making money and bad breeding have somehow become woven together in our society's narrative.
So Let's Change the Narrative
- Buyer: Wow you are charging a lot for these animals
- Old you: I'm not really making any money, it's a labor of love
- New you: Yep, they're worth that much
- ARA: You don't really care about the animals if you are exploiting them for money
- Old you: If you look at how much I spend you'll see I don't make money
- New you: The price goes into making sure I have everything I need to keep the animals in excellent health.
- Buyer: Most people are selling them for less
- Old you: I can match it. I just want to find a loving home.
- New you: This animal has been (vaccinated/health tested/health guaranteed/organically raised/pedigreed/given these awards) and that justifies the price. I stand behind the quality of my animals, so make any choice you would like.
- Another Breeder: Some breeders are only in it for the money.
- Old you: Yeah, those breeders are so irresponsible. I am in it for love. I just took out a second mortgage so I could keep my animals.
- New You: I love my animals, but I also like to rest easy knowing they will pay for themselves even if I lose my job.
- Another Breeder: You can spot a BYB because they (don't travel to shows/pay for a premium website/pay a handler/get equine massage/spend money on other things that don't necessarily impact the actual animals).
- Old You: Yep, I'm as serious as they come. Lemme just spend $700 on a commissioned painting of my latest champion winner. Here, let's put it on the AMEX....
- New You: You can tell a bad breeder by looking at their animals.
- Buyer: If you cared about the animal, you wouldn't ask for money for him
- New you: You said you're a plumber? How about you fix my sink for free. You would do that if you really cared about it.
Next time the words "But I'm not making any money at this" tumble out of your mouth, take a minute to consider why you are saying that, and if that is really the mindset you want to promote about animals and animal breeders.
I'm not saying you absolutely have to be profitable here -- but it's important to be thinking about just how much you are spending and how much you are taking in. Make a conscious decision about what percentage of costs the animals should make back. Just please don't make it into a money-flushing contest, and don't be ignorant about all that you are putting into producing great animals.
It's not too hard to change from making a statement that is negative and apologetic about the price to one that is positive and shows pride in all the things you have done to make your stock great.
Oh, and feel free to disagree with me (or, heavens, agree I guess) in the little forum widget below in the Forum Entitled "Article Discussions"
For the record, as of the writing of this article, I am not yet profitable....but WORKING ON IT!
I'm not saying you absolutely have to be profitable here -- but it's important to be thinking about just how much you are spending and how much you are taking in. Make a conscious decision about what percentage of costs the animals should make back. Just please don't make it into a money-flushing contest, and don't be ignorant about all that you are putting into producing great animals.
It's not too hard to change from making a statement that is negative and apologetic about the price to one that is positive and shows pride in all the things you have done to make your stock great.
Oh, and feel free to disagree with me (or, heavens, agree I guess) in the little forum widget below in the Forum Entitled "Article Discussions"
For the record, as of the writing of this article, I am not yet profitable....but WORKING ON IT!