Breeding And Money

[cbabe]

After reading about how much money you make breeding a litter i thought i would do a cost breakdown just to see how rich my last litter made me.........

Prices are approximate (give or take a few pence!)

£250      Stud Fee
£ 60       Eye tests
£ 38       Antibiotics and vet check.
£20        To maintain my affix for the year (bad timing but must be counted)
£30        Additional cost to feed bitch before whelp
£40        Vet fees to try and save puppy (which died)
£60        Vet fee for pups to visit vet 1st visit
£30        Additional cost to feed bitch after whelp
£100      additional petrol for going to stud/vets/eyevets/multiple trips home etc.
£130      to feed 3 puppies for 6 weeks
£ 5        disinfectant and bleach!
£ 36      To register 3 pups
£18       Official generation pedegrees
£30       Worming (mother and pups!)
£20       Final vet check!

That is £787 an d i'm sure i have underestimated somewhere......

Right so let me see how much i made.....i sold two pups so made £313 then i had to innoculate and chip Bry which takes that down to £200..... so now divide that by the hours i put in.....

3 days at 20 hrs (i did steel 4 hours sleep- ooooo cheeky me!)= 60
8 days at 19 hours = 152
45 days at 15 hours =675

So that would be  887 hours......... for £200 I made a whopping 22p per hour!

£100 per month!

and remember more pups means more work and more expense!

Any one want to apply for this job??

(edited cos i missed some!)

[Curtisio]

You can see why money grabbing farmers have to turn around a large amount of pups to make it worthwhile in money terms.

Dont get me started on commercial breeding

[Jane S]

Yes Clare but as we've said before, it's unfortunately perfectly possible to make money from breeding puppies which is why back yard breeders & puppy farmers thrive They don't need to bother with stud fees (they keep their own dogs & use them on every litter or they use the pet dog down the road), they don't pay for eye testing/hip scoring, they may not bother with an affix or registering litters or they use a cheaper company etc etc. I'm not talking about responsible, caring breeders here of course but the sad fact is the good ones are far outnumbered by the other kind

Jane

[cbabe]

I totally agree Jane - it upsets me when the conciencious breeders who do it properly get abused - and the come back is always down to how rich they are from all the puppies they sell!

I thought i'd do the example to show people where their money goes.

[suki1964]

I totally agree Jane - it upsets me when the conciencious breeders who do it properly get abused - and the come back is always down to how rich they are from all the puppies they sell!

I thought i'd do the example to show people where their money goes.

[snapback]125424[/snapback]

Its pure ignorance Im afraid

In the past (before owning a cocker ) I was one of those ignorant people. I mean why would I have not been? What did I know about animal breeding. It wasnt untill I started to look up Gunnars pedigree (commercial breeder) did I even know the difference between the types of breeders. I now know what hardwork, cost and heartbreak goes into rearing a litter and its a road Id never contemplate going myself. And anyone who thinks its a way to a quick buck really shouldnt be allowed to keep a dog, let alone breed from it. In my local park I know of three pup owners (differing breeds) who are all planning to mate their animals as soon as they can, all for the money

[Cayley]

Your not even guaranteed that the bitch will take, out of five matings we only had one litter.

edited for typos.

[LouiseH]

Also the following (optional)

I have paid stud fees up to £400 (Some stud dog owners also ask you to pay for a "handler"   )

£9 Council of Docked breeds membership
£15-£26 per puppy Vet fees for Tails/dewclaws
£30 Vet bedding (always buy new for new litter)
£__ Accredited breeder fee to Kennel Club
£__ Accredited breeder wallets
£170 Optigen Eye test
£70-100 Hip Scoring
£5 Puppy shampoo for poo-paddling puppies
£__ Breed club membership/s

If doing this for the first time you will need a whelping box and puppy pen £200-ish

You forgot to add your time for interviewing prospective owners (yawn)   And the tea and biscuits they eat when they visit lol   Oh, and the telephone advice line for the next 13+ years where needed.

Could go on forever but it's certainly no business when "done properly". Forgot to add telephone bill for ringing round to see if they have settled in ok!

Then the first cheque that bounces......oops.
 
Louise

[cbabe]

You know what you are right - and i did miss off council of DB of that list!

[LouiseH]

Yes Clare but as we've said before, it's unfortunately perfectly possible to make money from breeding puppies which is why back yard breeders & puppy farmers thrive They don't need to bother with stud fees (they keep their own dogs & use them on every litter or they use the pet dog down the road), they don't pay for eye testing/hip scoring, they may not bother with an affix or registering litters or they use a cheaper company etc etc. I'm not talking about responsible, caring breeders here of course but the sad fact is the good ones are far outnumbered by the other kind

Jane

[snapback]125423[/snapback]

Why do you think these breeders advertise in all the "Free Ads" Papers etc, surely this should be the first warning sign? Any reputable breeder shouldn't really need to advertise like this.

I'm fed up of puppy people asking why we only accept cash, no credit cards (it's not a handbag you are buying for goodness sake!) they always thinks it's to avoid the tax man. If the tax man knew how much we spent he'd be offerring me a refund from my 9-5 job!

[Magic Star]

I understand why you posted this Claire  

But at the same time and I know I may be rail roaded for saying this , but nobody forces anyone of you to breed, you all do it out of choice surely?  So why moan about the costs, if its so bad, don't do it!   Its hopefully because your passionate about the breed and want to create dogs as close to the breed standard as possible , (I think) which is of course commendable and I applaud anyone who breeds sensibly and carfeully, as the more good breeders we have the less likely people will go to puppy farms (hopefully)   At the end of the day, we need good responsible breeders, i'm not sure why it matters how much things cost, if you are passionate enough to want to breed, then I think its something that has to be looked into before any mating is done!  

[Michele]

I understand why you posted this Claire  

But at the same time and I know I may be rail roaded for saying this , but nobody forces anyone of you to breed, you all do it out of choice surely?  So why moan about the costs, if its so bad, don't do it! 

[snapback]125466[/snapback]

I don't think Clare was moaning about the costs Emma, I think she was just trying to highlight what an expensive 'hobby' breeding can be.
She's braver than me, I've thought about totting it up and then shied away from the idea, scared at the thought of how much it'd add up to    

[Mary]

Emma, I didn't get the impression that Clare was moaning about it.  Quite the opposite.  I read it more as highlighting the true costs of rearing a litter.  There are many people who are completely unaware of all the hidden costs involved in breeding properly and I think the post was probably aimed more towards them.  As Jane pointed out though, puppy farmers do make an awful lot of money from it as they would not incur any of the costs that Clare mentioned


Ooops, Michele beat me to it

[suzysu]

I have total admiration for breeders.  

Apart from the cost there is so much more involved. The sleepless nights and all the worry associated with the birth and then keeping the pups safe once they are born - it is a huge responsibility.

Also, us puppy mums and dads can be very demanding with all the questions and needing to visit regularly   and they freely give up their time to help us.

I am certainly very grateful to my breeder for all her help and support and appreciate all the hard work that is put into puppy breeding.  Any profit made is certainly deserved  

[tracey]

Emma, I don't think Claire was moaning about how much things cost Just pointing out the cost's involved.
The few breeders I know from the forum and Claire is one, are all passionate about the breed. I'm sure everyone who has bred a litter has at some point had to listen to comments about how much money they must be making.  As Claire has pointed out if you do it properly then there really is very little money if any to be made. Hopefully someone thinking of breeding because they want another just like mom/dad or think they might make a few quid might read this thread and change their mind. Unfortunately some people won't listen and will go ahead anyway, so we can but try and educate them

One more consideration.......average £650.00 should a bitch need a C Section.

Tracey

[PennyB]

You can see why money grabbing farmers have to turn around a large amount of pups to make it worthwhile in money terms.

Dont get me started on commercial breeding

[snapback]125419[/snapback]

They also don't bother with the list of what's needed either (no health tests or decent food or accomodation or good general vet care).