Re: [Alpacasite] Re: Farm and Ranch Guide decisions

Well that was rude. Can we please be nice.

sharonkennels <sharonkennels@yahoo.com> wrote: Steve get real. Who died and made you God?
How do you read the minds of the people who order the farm and ranch
guide? Are you Jesus Crist come back early?
So the farm and ranch guide cost umpteen dollars to produce, so
what, is it your money? No it is the money that we members pay.

If the people who pay for leads find out that the leads have no
acreage, maybe they should see my success. I did not pay for a lead
but had someone with no acreage get a F And R guide which they would
not have bought, then phoned me to ask about alpacas and I sold them
acreage at a 150 percent profit.
All from my farm and ranch guide ad.

I suggest you members of the marketing comittee wake up and look at
the real world.
Raise the price of the ads. Charge people more for the web site
listing. Cut out the tv ads which by the way point people to
www.alpacainfo.com where they will now be asked to pay for sending
out our advertising.
Why should we give a worthless plan like ripping off potential
customers for year.

Get real people. We farmers who elected you are not going to drop
out. We are going to go the courts and kick you out.

Sharon Kennels.
I am anonymous so as not to get banned.
But your gestapo leader will ban me anyway.
Goodbye

--- In Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com, "Steve Hull, TimberLake Farms.
Inc" <steve@t...> wrote:
>
> Kim, I hear your concern on the Farm and Ranch Guide (F&RG)
mailing
> fee, but consider that about 30% (or more) or the F&RGs have been
> sent out to people with absolutely no intention of raising
> alpacas. That guide costs a lot of money both for printing and
> mailing (I think $30-40 or so). Prior to now, there has been no
fee
> for the guide nor a fee for the mailing cost.
>
> Secondly, a lot of people who get (and pay for) the leads complain
> that the many (majority?) of the leads are people with no acreage
or
> no intention of raising alpacas. The people who purchase the
leads
> from AOBA ask us to "qualify" the leads better. We thought we
were
> doing this by asking about the size of the farm, but frankly
people
> "say" they have 100 acres when they only have a 1/4 acre lot.
>
> Can we really afford to send out this cost of a publication with
no
> qualifications whatsoever? The Marketing Committee spend many
nights
> and many long discussions on exactly this issue. They recommended
to
> the board, and the board agreed that we would send out the guide
> free, but attach a small mailing fee ($9.95).
>
> If they do not want to spend that small sum, we are still
collecting
> names, addresses so that we can send out other lower cost material.
>
> Yes, we expect that the total numbers of F&RGs sent out will go
down,
> but we expect that the numbers of qualified leads will increase
> tremendously. Let's give it try this way for a year and then we
do
> plan to re-evaluate.
>
> Erin McCarthy may have additional comments as she spend many, many
> nights discussing this with the marketing committee.
>
> Steve H.
>
>
>
>
>
> At 03:18 PM 12/08/2005, you wrote:
> >Hi Janet,
> >I also ask people that visit my farm how they found me. After
> >reviewing the new membership levels before renewing this year, I
> >contacted past clients and visitors that said they had found me in
> >the F&R Guide to inquire what they thought about a fee associated
> >with receiving the information packet. The ones that had sent for
> >the AOBA packet said they would NOT have paid to receive it.
> >I think the F&R Guide has been a valuable marketing tool for me in
> >the past when there was not a charge to interested parties, and I
do
> >understand that things need to change financially for AOBA with
> >regard to the free mailing. I believe mailings will significantly
> >decrease as people won't want to pay to receive advertising, as
you
> >point out, and more prospective new breeders will find web sites
> >useful as their source for locating existing farms. Not sure what
> >changes we will see for 2007 renewals, but it would be reasonable
to
> >deduct that if the Guide is mailed at no cost again, the cost to
> >advertise in it will go up. Should be interesting to hear what
> >people think after this year and to see how the numbers of
> >advertisers and Guides mailed out changed.
> >Kim
> >Columbine Ranch, Morrison, CO
> >
> >
> >
> >--- In Alpacasite@yahoogroups.com, "Dream Chaser Alpacas"
> ><hufford@d...> wrote:
> > >
> > > I know this has been discussed on the site previously, but I
have
> > > recently had a complaint from someone interested in alpacas
about
> >AOBA
> > > requiring interested parties to "pay for AOBA's advertising".
> >This
> > > person has informed me that they would not ever pay to have
> >someone
> > > elses advertising sent to them....and the price of nearly $10
to
> > > receive the advertising material is outrageous. One farm
visitor
> > > stated there were only 5 farms listed in their area they would
be
> > > visiting and if they had had to pay for the guide, they
wouldn't
> >be
> > > visiting them unless they had learned about them another way.
As
> >his
> > > wife said, "I wouldn't pay 2 bucks a farm just for names!"
> > >
> > > This is of high concern to us as a small alpaca farm. Four of
the
> >six
> > > contacts made by us with prospective buyers this past year was
> >through
> > > our ad in the guide (including one from Canada) and one was
from
> >the
> > > online farm site listing. And although we are not actively
> >pursuing
> > > sales currently, we have tried to show our visitors that even a
> >small
> > > farm venture can succeed, as we have grown from 5 to 11
alpacas in
> > > just over a year, built our outbuildings, and begun agisting
> >animals.
> > > We try to help them understand what is entailed and what they
can
> > > realistically expect. Then we refer them to farms we believe
> > > are "reliable" to purchase animals or research further, and we
> >refer
> > > them to a couple of alpaca sites to learn the "good, bad, and
the
> > > ugly".
> > >
> > > Most of our visitors are not looking for a get rich scheme,
they
> >are
> > > researching a possible change in lifestyle for their families
and
> >a
> > > future income - which will at least allow them to live
comfortably
> >and
> > > as some have said, spend more time with their families.
> > >
> > > Since the anouncement of the changes in policy, we have also
asked
> >our
> > > visitors if they received the guide or just accessed us on
line,
> >and
> > > if they would have paid for it if necessary. ALL have said they
> >would
> > > not have paid for the guide. At least two have bought into
> >alpacas,
> > > one a dispersal herd. The others are continuing their research,
> >three
> > > of them are on this site. This is at least four people who
might
> >not
> > > have found our farm if they had to pay for the guide.
> > >
> > > Since our ad in the guide is paid for by us with the intention
and
> > > understanding that our listing be made available to possible
> >future
> > > buyers and those researching alpacas as a business, we have
become
> > > even more concerned with AOBA charging $9.95 for the guide
under
> >the
> > > ruse of shipping. I ship packages to Alaska, and sometimes
that
> > > doesn't even cost me $9.95.
> > >
> > > Does anyone else share these concerns? If what our farm
visitors
> >have
> > > said are true, I don't see a reason to use the farm guide as
part
> >of
> > > our advertising plan.
> > >
> > > Janet Hufford
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Opinions and postings on this list are the sole responsibility of
> >the person posting the message. The accuracy and content of each
> >message in no way reflect the opinions of the administrator or
Yahoo.
> >
> >
> >
> >List administrator - Rick Horn - All American Alpacas alpacas@a...
> >http://aaalpacas.com
> >
> >
> >
> >TO CHANGE OPTIONS visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Alpacasite/join
> >Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> Steve . . . .
>
> TimberLake Farms, Inc.
> Tom Cameron, D.V.M. & Steve Hull, Ph.D.
> Edmond, Oklahoma
>
> A Full Service Alpaca Farm Including Seminars And Consulting
>
> www.timberlakefarms.net
>
> e-mails: mailto:steve@t...
> mailto:tom@t...
>
> Farm Telephone: 405 341-8444
> Farm Cell Telephone: 405 550-3023
> Farm Fax: 405 330-8444
>
> note: opinions made here are not and cannot be construed to be
> specific veterinary advice, diagnosis or treatments. Both Tom and
> Steve strongly suggest always checking with your own veterinarian.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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---------------------------------

Jim and Sharon Dear
St. Lawrence County
Potsdam, New York
Alpacas came home 9-11-04
THE DEAR ALPACA FARM
www.dearalpacafarm.com

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