[Alpacasite] Re: needing a sounding board of impartial people

Without knowing details, there are two sides to having a bad
reputation: bad business practices, and bad breeding practices.

If their reputation is "bad" because of business practices, then you
know your risk in contracting with them. The risk to you may be worth
the price (no support, no recourse if an animal is not reproductively
sound, or cannot produce a viable cria, etc). Only you can decide how
much risk you can stomach.

If their reputation is "bad" because of breeding practices, I'd spend
a great deal of time researching their ancestry on the ARI cert before
buying. You do not want to end up with a new herd of animals and find
out several consistently throw conformational or fatal birth defects.
Then the risk is NOT worth the price. In my opinion, nobody should be
able to stomach that risk. You have a herd of pets. And if you try
to sell the offspring, you are perpetuating that original breeder's
bad reputation, but giving it your name.

I see that you have something to worry about with your own reputation,
especially since you are new. You have all your eggs in this one
basket. As a small breeder, if you only sell one alpaca a year, your
whole reputation is on that one alpaca. IF the alpaca is poor
quality, or has genetic issues, your whole reputation as a breeder is
delineated by that alpaca sale. It isn't easy to build a great
reputation as a respected breeder one alpaca a year, so you have to
make each sale over-the-top as great as it can be.

For instance, if I learn that "Superstar Stud" has progeny who wins
all kinds of awards, but occasionally throws a fatal defect, I HAVE to
stay away from that "Superstar Stud" because if I choose to breed to
him, and the cria born on my farm is the occasional fatal defect, I'm
toast for the year. I'm out production, and I have to work harder to
justify my dam's value when the next cria is born. And if I only have
two breeding females on my farm, I have suffered a serious setback in
my breeding program.

Just some thoughts from another small, new breeder.

Laura Patten
Majestic Farm
Eatonville, WA

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