Sukie writes:
> Some types of progress can be made ONLY if all of the farms are involved
 
I cannot agree with this important point more.  Marshall Farms is a
business, and though they may be the largest ferret farm, they do have
competitors.  They will be very slow to make changes that could put them
at a disadvantage compared to the other farms.
 
A good example is age at shipping.  There are advantages and disadvantages
from MF's point of view for shipping at a later age.  They have to balance
the lower loss during shipping and fewer problems with failure to thrive
against the cost of feeding and housing kits for a couple more weeks.  I
have no idea where that would balance out.
 
But they also have to worry about their competition.  People like to
buy cute little kits, so the pet stores want to stock cute little kits.
Little kits grow rapidly, and have a limited "shelf life" as babies.  We
hear all the time on this list about the older kits that are passed up in
pet stores as people buy the younger ones.  So the pet store is going to
want to purchase from a supplier who can provide a product with a longer
shelf life.  After all, they are businesses too.
 
This is also an issue during peak pet-buying times, such as now.  If MF
tells the store, "Sorry we can't ship more for another 2 weeks", the store
will just go to Path Valley, Triple F or another source.  If MF sees they
are losing business to other suppliers for this reason, they will change
back to an earlier shipping age.
 
Now if we can convince MF, Triple F and PV to all ship at 7-8 weeks, we'd
be making progress!!
 
Linda Iroff
Oberlin OH
Strategize with other ferret lovers at Ferrets 2002, Feb 1-3 in Las Vegas!
Time is running out to register!
http://ferretsymposium.mdex.ca
[Posted in FML issue 3633]