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Post by fivestarherefords on Dec 17, 2014 21:08:26 GMT -6
As I sit here after finalizing my Fall registrations and Spring Inventory update on MyHerd.org, I'm asking myself has the AHA really earned $560.50 of my money?
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Post by pwbedy on Dec 18, 2014 9:15:46 GMT -6
Not Really! Afterall they Charge for services that used 2b free & It's Not that Hard 2 keep the records in their computers as it's more work 2 remove them from the files! Besides, the EPDs quite often hurt more people than they help as they are designed 2 promote poor cattle that cant make it without a grain bucket & ruin the good, truly efficient cattle! Also when people often achieve great #s they forget 2 look 2 see if they still have a critter that can back them up!
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Post by bookcliff on Dec 18, 2014 12:38:57 GMT -6
As I sit here after finalizing my Fall registrations and Spring Inventory update on MyHerd.org, I'm asking myself has the AHA really earned $560.50 of my money? a question asked by many a breeder (including myself) over the years and often answered by those who came before as welcome to Hereford business, you don't have to like it but there ain't no alternative..............at least for moment,......... although.......................
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 12:45:44 GMT -6
The alternative is having a herd of unregistered commercial cattle instead of a registered herd. So the question is would your purebred cattle be worth as much if they aren't registered with AHA? If you factor in all the salaries of the employees, overhead costs, and services provided it takes to run the association the cost is probably justified.
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Post by bookcliff on Dec 19, 2014 0:56:24 GMT -6
The alternative is having a herd of unregistered commercial cattle instead of a registered herd. So the question is would your purebred cattle be worth as much if they aren't registered with AHA? If you factor in all the salaries of the employees, overhead costs, and services provided it takes to run the association the cost is probably justified. while I agree with your statement that it is more than likey justified as far as the fees charged, I do feel that given a chioce of being able to register with an alternate organization that is soley directed at the commerical sector, their would be a substantial majority of registrations and dollars within the AHA shift away from the current organization. not membership mind you, but look at where most of the dollars and registrations come from. I firmly beileve that AHA is a business organization and as such at the annual meeting at KC each fall votes should be cast on a straight registration basis not unlike a shareholders meeting, not this quasi-weighted system meant to appease the one man one vote crowd. as a result this assn would be primarily focused towards what the folks who pay most of the dollars(and represent the smallest segement of the membership) into it are about--the commercial sector, instead of the primary focus being that of the terciary aspects (juniors, shows, the social toddy crowd, ect ect ect) of the "registered" business deamed the primary goal of the assn by the largest segement of within membership who at the same time pay a substaincially less portion of the overall coffers of the the assn. before you all get bent outa shape, I am one of the small guys registering 35-50 head a year, not one of the big boys, and this is starting to be a rather common thread heard out here in rangebull country. oh and to answer your question about the papers, damn few of my customers care about them. what they care about is applical and accurate data of which I don't need the ABI for to collect and analyse ( I use MARC's program here), along with structural soundness
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Post by smifarm on Dec 19, 2014 8:54:03 GMT -6
I agree that the fees are getting pretty extreme for what we get in return. I am also a producer registering 30-40 animals per year. Since anymore when info is entered on Myherd this is done by the producer. No most people purchasing bulls from me rarely care about the papers - they want to know some of the numbers. Now though heifer purchasers are more likely interested in the papers. You pay these fees but never do I see them in Southeast Kansas promoting the breed at the local livestock markets, trying to improve the image.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 11:12:07 GMT -6
We're pretty small too, about 20-25 females and most our bulls go to commercial breeders but the females we sell the buyers usually want papers on those as most will keep using them as registered purebreds. If you are running a purebred herd I think there is some value there on keeping registrations current, you likely will always get more for a registered purebred then you will a commercial Hereford.
As for MyHerd - speaking as someone that is in the IT profession myself - while it has automated the paperwork aspect there are plenty of overhead costs there with the IT infrastructure that runs it so there has to be some kind of fees to pay for it. You are paying people to develop and maintain the website and backend of it as well as all the hardware costs associated with a program that maintains that much data and processing power. Server space is not cheap nor are the people that are very good at what they do in the IT world. We're a bit spoiled here with Glenn running this as a free site!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 12:57:50 GMT -6
Bookcliff is right on the money with his post. We only register 30-40 per year. Bread and butter is our commercial herd. Few of our customers care about the papers - they want the performance data. The social activities may be fun and all, but those activities don't pay the bills. The work must be done before the party starts.
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Post by strojanherefords on Dec 21, 2014 16:48:40 GMT -6
How much of the AHA budget is spent putting on shows?
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