Club Membership Benefits

[hillrise]

I'm just curious if anyone has any advice about memberships beyond just the basic ARBA membership. When I raised Flemish, I had a membership with the NFFGRB, and the monthly(?) newsletter/booklet was kind of nice, with its breed-specific information, but that was really the only benefit I saw to having that membership.

I'm now breeding rabbits on a larger scale than I did back then, but my focus is also on more popular breeds (I only ever saw one other Flemish at the shows I went to). I doubt I'd ever place in sweepstakes, since I don't go to a whole lot of shows, nor have the numbers that most placing rabbitries have. I'm not even sure what the value of sweepstakes placement is...

Would you recommend getting memberships to the national breed clubs?

What about local clubs? I know the local club here offers discounts on entry fees to their members (which makes their low-cost membership worth it if I make it to the shows). Are there other benefits to local clubs?

Do you think buyers pay much attention to "I am a member of xx association" since membership really isn't exclusive or indicative of anything?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

From the stand point of a potential buyer, I thing that joining clubs is important. What you join does depend on what your market might be. If you would expect to sell more locally, then joining a local club would be a good idea. If you have a rarer breed in your area, then the national breed club would also be good. Since most clubs do offer posting of your info (name, breeds, website, contact info), this does help your your info more out there.

Personally, I do pay attention to club memberships. Even if it is just to find a breeder since some don't advertise much or it can be harder to find a specific breed in your area. While them not being a member of a club doesn't mean I won't buy from them, it can mean that I won't know they exist so don't even get a chance to consider them.

When I got my 2 tans, I had looked at 2 breeders in particular. Both are members of the breed club. Neither was particularly close by, so I could not easily visit them. The breeder I did end up going with was my first choice and it worked out due to some shows and transport. On the other hand, there is a more local tan breeder (like 1 hour away), but he has no website, no club memberships and doesn't show at the moment. So while I did manage to get his phone number, that would not have happened if I did not have other connections to local breeders.

In my opinion, if you are going to join one, join the local club. You will probably get more out of it and meet people that you can actually meet rather than just know online. If you can, have other contacts with other breeders on the breeds you raise, they can be good if you have questions and can refer people to you if needed (and you can do the same).

What you join really depends on what you want to do. If you show more, a local club is a good idea. If you want more breed info and connection, then the breed club is good. If you want to show more abroad, then a breed club is good for the breed nationals and ARBA is good for the national convention.

I guess if really comes down to if you want to local connection with breeders and potential buyers or the broader breed connections.

 

[CCWelch]

The only "Club" membership I pay attention to is ARBA. I will be becoming a member of 2 possibly 3 local clubs next year just for the Sweeps points.