I am amazed there is still so much resentment towards the inventory-based fee system. How it is SUPPOSED to work, all the cows are on inventory and all the calves are recorded even if not registered. That way, the complete contemporary groups are processed and the performance of each calf is more accurately measured and the resulting performance predictions, EBV or EPD, are no longer skewed by just the "cream of the crop" calves getting reported. If the inventory fees were tabulated and applied correctly, the breeder wasn't supposed to see any increase in their overall cost. When ATA made the switch, analysis was done that showed breeders who had been conscientiously paying to record their non-registered calves before the inventory-based fees were actually saving money. But breeders still dropped out, they could not be convinced they weren't paying a "cow tax".
Does anybody disagree that whole herd reporting creates a better data set, or is it just resentment and dissatisfaction about how the breed association actually applies the fees and runs their system??