This is a puppy mill?
Submitted by Dick Wanner on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 12:46pm.
Went to a puppy mill on Wednesday, except that I would call it "puppies for profit." It was an Amish farm and my visit was in the company of a group of 15 graduate students from North Carolina State University. All but two of the students are full time extension educators in North Carolina. They were on a week-long five-state bus tour designed to broaden their points of view by exposing them to the workings of farms and extension offices outside their home state.
If this had been the standard horror-fantasy puppy mill with hundreds of caged, dirty, miserable dog-like creatures, it definitely would have broadened their points of view. And mine as well. The farmer showed his guests the tidy dairy barn with its 55 milking Holsteins, the lush garden that is his wife's obsession, his alfalfa and cornfields, his hay barn and his massive, propane-fueled kitchen.
And he showed them his puppy mill. It was a lawnsized enclosure that had two English bulldogs snoozing in a shaded corner, about half-a-dozen tan pugs running around, and a couple of Burmese mountain dogs who had the run of the house and the barns. The farmer said he sells 55 pups a year to individuals that he reaches through ads in local newspapers. He doesn't sell to dealers. He favors pugs and English bulldogs because they are harder to raise than many other breeds, and therefore command a higher price. The bulldogs, especially, have a hard time whelping, so there have been times when a mother and her young have spent a week or two in the family kitchen.
He sells pups for anywhere from $500 to $1200. He said it's more of a hobby than a business. But it's 55 pups a year, at an average of $700 or $800 each...
You do the math. It's a business. And, I believe, a good business. It's a good income base for a small family farm, which may be helping this particular farm to stay profitable. It's good for the dogs, which looked comfortable, well-fed and well-cared for. And it's good for the individual buyers who, for all appearances, get healthy pets.
I could never endorse a puppy mill/factory. But I could certainly endorse this farmer's approach as a business model for a humane and caring way of providing for a market - people who want puppies - that will not go away.
And he showed them his puppy mill. It was a lawnsized enclosure that had two English bulldogs snoozing in a shaded corner, about half-a-dozen tan pugs running around, and a couple of Burmese mountain dogs who had the run of the house and the barns. The farmer said he sells 55 pups a year to individuals that he reaches through ads in local newspapers. He doesn't sell to dealers. He favors pugs and English bulldogs because they are harder to raise than many other breeds, and therefore command a higher price. The bulldogs, especially, have a hard time whelping, so there have been times when a mother and her young have spent a week or two in the family kitchen.
He sells pups for anywhere from $500 to $1200. He said it's more of a hobby than a business. But it's 55 pups a year, at an average of $700 or $800 each...
You do the math. It's a business. And, I believe, a good business. It's a good income base for a small family farm, which may be helping this particular farm to stay profitable. It's good for the dogs, which looked comfortable, well-fed and well-cared for. And it's good for the individual buyers who, for all appearances, get healthy pets.
I could never endorse a puppy mill/factory. But I could certainly endorse this farmer's approach as a business model for a humane and caring way of providing for a market - people who want puppies - that will not go away.
Health insurance for a family of four can cost more than $1,000 a month, which can put a strain on any family budget. Matt and Jackie Matter, who operate a 400-acre crop farm in Millerstown, Pa., developed a strategy that significantly reduced their expense. They use a health savings account (HSA), a high-deductible policy, and a signoff on their ability to sue for malpractice. Lancaster Farming special sections editor Charlene Shupp Espenshade talked to the Matters and wrote a report of their conversation in the issue due in your mailbox tomorrow.
Feeling musical? Strap on your 'blades. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3841853
