Only since I was asked to give an honest answer...  I certainly don't
want to keep up the nastiness going on.
 
[Moderator's note: It's not nasty by my definition, and if it gets that way
it will stop.  It's getting closer, but there's still useful info too. BIG]
 
In the ferret community backyard breeder is the term normally used to
connotate the ferret equivalent of a puppy-mill.  It does no good to
redefine words just to use them as insults.
 
Marshall Farms is a ranch not a backyard breeder.  They operate more like
the ranches that raise sheep and cattle than the puppy-mills that raise
dogs.
 
A backyard breeder is a person who is trying make a money at raising
ferrets as cheaply as possible.  As it is an operation normally done
literally in the backyard of a home there is little room for the animals.
With cheapness being the main desire no veterinary care is given to them at
all.  Poor diet, unclean living conditions, and bad breeding practices
abound.  Animals are bred until they die not retired.
 
Marshall Farms has a on site veterinarian and many vet technicians.  Vet
techs are often quite good but are people who just didn't complete the same
formal veterinary schooling.  Much work at any veterinary hospital is done
by vet techs.  Marshall does seem to expect more out of them including
surgery but I would suspect that they hire good vet techs.  If they didn't
their bottom line would suffer.  Just as Nurses and Nurse Practioners help
out human doctors vet techs help out vets.  When I go to my HMO I get
checkups and the like as often from Nurse-practioners as from Doctors.
 
Marshall Farms does try to feed their ferrets the best diet possible.
Their food is one of the best.  I personally use Totally Ferret but it
was developed with help of Dr. Bell at Marshall Farms -  do we boycott
Totally Ferret because it was developed with the help of Marshall Farms?
 
Dr. Bell has made great strides in improving the living conditions for the
ferrets at Marshall.  They have new buildings and larger pens for the
ferrets now.  She tells me they keep them clean.  Sicnce they don't allow
visitors we can only go by this.  Anyone who breeds ferrets can verify that
ferret kits can make quite a mess so this clean up is one Herculean feat.
 
The ferrets that come from Marshall can not be traced back to their
parents but that is from the wholesaling process more than anything
else.  The ferrets are well tracked from what I've been told to prevent
problems associated with inbreeding.
 
Cancer is a primary killer of any animal that is outliving its 'natural'
lifespan.  A polecats normall life expectancy in the wild is little more
than a year.  Ferrets being of the same genetic stock as polecats to a
large degree would expect to have a similar lifespan IF they were in a
wild state.  People who live beyond a certain age are virtually assured
of developing some form of cancer.  Sad but true.  The body's warranty
runs out.
 
Path Valley has the same price for ferrets on the wholesale market as
Marshall - something about $60.  Do you really think they do anything
that much different?  I'd be surprised.
 
I do not like some of the practices of Marshall Farms.  Does anyone have a
real alternative?  Is anyone proposing buying the retired breeders from
Marshall to turn them into pets?  They won't give them away as it would
steal sales from their kits.  These prices for the retired breeders would
have to include some cost of neuter/spay, some several weeks of human
interaction before they would be suitable for pets.  I suspect they would
end up costing more than the kits.  Not a lot of market for a hundred
dollar ferret that would likely live only another year or so since they
claim from those who so hate Marshall is thet their ferrets only live to
4-6 years and the ferrets are being retired at about the same age.
 
While I do not approve of the breeding of jills more than once a year
Marshall does NOT breed them 3-4 times a year.  The quote used to support
this 4 times figure is discredited.  To achieve four preganacies a year
the jills would have to be pregnant within one to two weeks of the kits
being weaned at 5 to 6 weeks of age.  Dr. Bell confirmed to me that they
try for three times a year.  Lets not support Marshall beacause they try
to breed 3 times a year without claiming something else that is not true.
 
I did not mean to imply that any of the small hobbiest breeders were the
ones who would try to get the money from pet stores.  I am one of these
hobbiest breeders.  I would never sell to a pet store not neuter/spay my
ferrets before sexual maturity.  There are "backyard ferret breeders"
which are the equivalent of a puppy-mill and LIFE has tried to work
against them also.
 
I am posting this against the advice of my wife.  Certains things have
been done against me in the last few wees outside of the FML.  It is
unfortunate that what I write to try and educate about ferrets.  The
strain on me and my family through nasty letters is too much; I will
not comment further after this.
 
bill killian
[Posted in FML issue 1306]