I have taken the time to think ahead a few steps as I would in a Chess Game...and all I keep coming up with is the KC community in Check Mate. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so..With summer here, the selling is already slow. We would already have been in the 'bust' part of the seasonal Boom to Bust cycle. I think this "fire sale" spiral we see picking up speed is short sighted and ultimately will hurt Everyone more than help and keep us in the downward spiral longer.
That being said, this is the pattern I see growing uncomfortably fast:
1. we are hard up for kibble after spending way to much on special editions and not getting enough out of them to support the regular kitty breeding
2. we lower prices to sell...and even sell what i call "box'o'kitties" but it wont cover even the cost of feeding. Some wont care because they are not really interested in developing better cats. They will just move to another market to earn lindens. Unfortunately, for those who really do like KC, the transient breeders will be long gone while those left will be battling the public expectation of 100L 9T kitties which we cannot sustain if we want to stay current
3. When sanity prevails once more, and we are cleaning up the mess in the Fall when things pick up all those Good Kitties were sold for less than the cost of a gen started will come back to haunt us each time we are pairing cats and think of what we had but sold off. Ohh the frustration of trying to rebuild what we may have thoughtlessly broken down.
It doesn't have to be this way, in my opinion. This time can be taken to build up and update our catteries. Purge Purge Purge til all we have is over very best. And most importantly, we shouldn't make it profitable for anyone to canabalize the market by flooding it with kitties selling for so low that it wouldnt cover food, let alone other costs in KC breeding. I laughed the other day when I saw a 'sale' so cheap it was embarrassing...I said "Oh my! This person must not think much of the work they have done" Then i looked at the pedigree and realized They didnt do Any work - They bought nice kitties for peanuts, bred them and are cashing in on the Real breeder's work.
I recently had the sad experience of having someone get frustrated with me because I would not trade an 8T Latte Salty Mega with tons of great traits for a 5T gen kitty just because it had nice ears. It was like the person expected sellers to be so desperate that we will take anything...or so stupid that we dont know what they are worth. Either way, I was stunned and angered by the feeling that all these desperation sales are creating vultures who are out there picking over our bones.
Sorry...I would, and have, Menageried many nice 8 and even sometimes so-so 9T kitties before i sell them for embarrassingly low prices that only serve to undermine the market for longer and not reflect the work I put into KC. Those fast lindens will be gone faster than we can rebuild. So before we buy those "100L 9T Bargains" maybe we should ask if it will be a bargain in the long run or just another nail in our Going Out of Business sign
My opinion is "Neither a buyer Nor a seller be". Everyone has principles but the only ones that count are the ones reflected in our Choices. If I have to breed just for myself, for the pleasure and feeling of accomplishment in what I am trying to make, then I will do that - But i rather keep or menagerie before i degrade their quality.
(putting on my asbestos undies...fire away)
The 9T for 100L "bargain"
