>From:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Colors
>I know I will probably get flamed for this but here I go anyway.
 
All disagreements are not flames.  All non-postive comments are also not
flames.  For example its hard to post as postive the killing af ferrets
for needless rabies testing.  Its not a flame to point out that Health
departments make what we would call mistakes.
 
>AFA standards are not the only ones out there in the world of ferrets.
 
The AFA is by far the largest of the ferret organizations.  It has
outlasted many others.  It will outlast more.
 
>Other clubs have different standards for colors and patterns.
 
True.  And what follows is our impression of what "standards" exist in
the US.
 
Specifically about cinnamon versus champagne.  Cinnamon in ALL standards
claims a red tone.  "The guard hairs are a reddish-brown color" from
http://www.acmeferret.com/life/shows/cinn.htm and "rich light reddish brown"
from http://www.ferret.org/afa_colors.htm which is LIFE and AFA - the two
most widespread standards.
 
But its just not there.  The ferrets called cinnamon are not red.  They are
"tan or diluted version of chocolate" (Also the AFA page cited above.)
 
Champagne is a dilute of chocolate.  This is easily verifiable through
breeding if one actually knows what to look for.  Some standards mention a
red sable that is to cinnamon as chocolate is to champagne.  We've never
seen one.  The breeders that have been breeding for up to twenty years
invloved with the AFA Breeder's committee and judging say they have not seen
a "cinnamon" or "red sable" since cheap cat foods with too much dye went out
of fashion.  This was discussed just recently involving orange coloring as
folks may remember.  The orange (red) coloring was described (by an LOS NJ
officer and hence LIFE oriented not an AFA person) as being caused by food
dye.
 
The IFA was the first major ferret show organization.  Its defunct.  When it
died several others sprung from its ashes.  A local ferret organization
based in Montgomery County Maryland went "big time" and became the AFA.
FURO also strted but is now defunct.  The AFA used the FURO standard until
it became obvious that FURO was going to die.  We can ignore the IFA and
FURO standards as relevant other than historically.
 
NAFA is really just one family in Prince William County Virginia and an ever
shifting group of folks that join and then leave.  It uses basically the IFA
standard with several "new colors and patterns" added to a standard that was
already over loaded with too many colors and patterns.
 
Later several local clubs tried to combine their strengths and founded LIFE.
Unfortunately due to much to much politicking most of the original founding
clubs left.  We still have one of the "No Politics" buttons from one of the
earliest LIFE shows where many people fed up with the politics tried to send
a message to those in LIFE's leadership that they wanted to do ferrets not
politics.  The response from the leadership was purges and an nasty
editorial in the "Independant Voice" see
http://www.acmeferret.com/infobank/a94nopol.htm
 
The fight was about whether the AFA would be allowed to have a table at a
LIFE show.  The specific "ethical" point in the editorial was the allowing
of Marshall Farms by the AFA to sponsor an altered ring (which is largely
composed of ferrets from Marshall Farms).  Ironically Marshall had
previously sponsored a ring at a LIFE sanctioned show with no comments
about ethics.
 
There is much petty bickering over who wrote the standard used by LIFE but
it was originally largely written by Vickie McKimmey in her capacity of
show co-ordinator for LIFE.  She was purged for her part in the "No
Politics" movement.  The original LIFE standard is still in use by the last
two remaining former member clubs that hold truly independant shows - the
Greater Chicago Ferret Associatino and the Baltimore Ferret Club.  All of
the judges we know of that have used both the LIFE and AFA judging systems
and show standards and that have discussed it (Vickie McKimmey, Ellen Byrne
and Bill Killian) seem to much prefer the AFA system.  We have not
specifically discussed this with Karen Yaremkovich (Yes Roger... <grin>)
 
The Great Lakes Ferret Association basically came out of nowhere and created
their own system out of bits borrowed from NAFA, the AFA and the independant
system.  Their whole system is despite reading the papers of the other
systems very green and undeveloped.  This is inevitable with no real ties to
the experiences of decades invested in the AFA and LIFE systems.  This is
not a slight on the GLFA judges just the nature of what they did.  It has
too many colors and patterns with its roots in NAFA and some adopted from a
single non-showing breeder in Oregon.  Their approach is at least partially
due to their being somewhat geograhpically remote from the folks involed
with existing standards.
 
So yes there are other standards.  We'll stick to the one that seems the
most sensible.  When we post we'll base our posts on our knowledge and
experiences.  Everyone else should base their posts on their knowledge and
experiences.  bill is a veteran licensed AFA judge and we have been breeding
with an emphasis on learning about inheritance in ferrets.  Thats our
credentials...
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
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[Posted in FML issue 2306]