I did not mean to seem to attack you. I was not. I was simply explaining why, if I was keeping hobby cows, why ""I"" would rather have registered cows than commercial cows. Anybody who thinks they will ever consistently turn a real profit on six cows or less is delusional (whether or not they pay the ~$150 a year in fees and new registrations to the association). Speaking purely as a buyer, I generally don't believe the data that most people put in front of me. I have never falsified any records; but the cynical side of me makes me doubt much of the birth, weaning, and yearling data put in front of me. I like to see EPDs, if I don't I am walking on a bull, even if I like everything else that I see (now granted I have never bought a bull from anybody with less than a hundred head either, but it is possible). People that have come up here in the past, have acted like my registered cows were superior to my grade cows even when that was NOT the case. You may be a better salesman than me; but I have NEVER sold a commercial cow off the farm for much more than I could get for her at the stockyard. The registration paper gives value in my experience. Now if you market all of your calves through the stockbarn, have no ambitions to do otherwise, and get no personal satisfaction from owning "registered" cows ; then I wouldn't pay the activation fee to register my replacements either. I wish people who were opposed to the $100 activation fee (which should be reduced to $60 in my opinion) would make their voices heard by participating in the process rather than taking their ball and going home.
