[Bodger]

I joined the BPA on 30.07 2013.
 I keep one GOS sow and because I wanted to breed some pedigree piglets, I had no other option but to join the association. This meant having to pay a fee of £60.00 for what I presumed was a 12 month period.
 Just over 4 months after joining,( that was a couple of days ago) much to my disquiet, I've received an invoice for a further £60.00    Why? Because unbeknown to me and I certainly wasn't told this at the time of joining, when I paid my first fee, I wasn't paying for a 12 months subscription, I was merely paying for the remainder of their financial year.
 Am I being unreasonable in thinking that I'm being ripped off by an association that expects me to pay £120.00 so that I can keep one pedigree pig for very little over 12 months?
I've phoned the BPA office and spoken to a lady there who obviously has been told to toe the party line and whose advised me to write to their director and explain my grievance at having to pay a second membership fee so quickly after having paid my first one. I'm quite pessimistic in hoping that such a large organization might show flexibility ( common sense/ common decency) in this matter but if they don't then my venture into pedigree pig breeding may very well be over before its had chance to begin. Good God! I only bought Pru my sow at the end of May!

[lachlanandmarcus]

There are some horsey organisations like that as well, they do a 2013 membership. It's their way I think of trying to get everyone to renew promptly at the start of the year so they know how much ££ they have to play with for the year. But .....it isn't fair. It would be quite simple to charge pro rata, even if they limited it to quarterly cut off dates to still provide some incentive.


I would be cross too, esp if it wasn't made clear. 

[Bodger]

Its hard enough to make pigs pay as it is without this sort of thing happening.

[shygirl]

Most breed society clubs are like that. Usually it's January when subs are due.
I found the bpa very helpful but when I told them I had stopped breeding they cancelled my magazine even though I'd paid for a year's worth.
Never mind. I only join what I need to now as it gets costly when you add it all up.

[Fowgill Farm]

Bodger
E-mail is the best way - address it to Marcus Bates or you could try Andrew Robinson or Judith Simms who are GOS BPA Breed Reps.
Make sure you make it known that it was not explained to you clearly & that you think it was mis-sold as you really had no need to join until you were ready to birth note your piglets which is upto 10wks after they are born.
The trouble is the BPA had no competition for registering pigs anymore and if you want to keep any pedigree pigs other than Lops or KK's then you have to deal with them.
HTh
Mandy

[Bodger]

That's why I'm not expecting to get anything from them. Monopolies are all powerful and I'm expecting a like it or lump it response to the E-mail that I've sent to them.
 Its a shame that all the pig breed societies seem to have relinquished the reins of registration to them. If there was an exception to this, then I'd seriously consider keeping that breed instead of the GOS that I've chosen.

[oaklandspigs]

Bodger,

Totally agree that having the BPA for almost all breeds is not healthy, and I would strongly suspect that on setting up no-one thought that divorce was a possibility, so would bet that any club breaking from the BPA doesn't get it's records and history, so all is lost and you start again.

[Bodger]

When you say nearly all breed societies, does that mean there are some that haven't? Please say that there are.

[bloomer]

british lops and Kune Kunes are maintained by separate organisations I believe...

[Bodger]

Thanks for that Bloomer, I know someone whose pretty high up with the Lops. If the situation doesn't alter with the BPA , then that would be a breed well worth considering .

[RaisinHall Tamworths]

We were just saying on Saturday about the price of membership and how for people like you Bodger it simply isnt worth it for you to be a member. They need to open their eyes and realise that the people with one or two sows who still want to breed pedigree pigs are more likely to be a member if it was around £20 or so. We have 14 sows and pay £50 and then do "pay as yougo" buying everything as and when needed.
 It should have been explained that subs run from January to December. Not good 

[Bodger]

I’ve had time to calm down now and after some thought, I realise that I have three possible options in front of me.

 Firstly, to pay another £60.00 and continue to breed GOS pigs with my one and only sow, so that her progeny can be registered as pedigree.

The second option? Is to continue with the GOS breed but not to register them.

The third option, is for me to stop keeping the breed that I love and to switch to keeping British Lops, whose breed society, for whatever reason, is the only pig breed society not to have not thrown in their lot in with the BPA.

Which ever option I choose, both myself and the GOS breed will survive but what concerns me, is that IMO the BPA, is doing very little to encourage small time pig keepers like myself to keep pedigree pigs.In fact, their fee policies are probably having the opposite effect. I know of several pig keepers who’ve stopped registering their pigs.
 Our breed is under going something of a revival at the moment but surely, there would be even more pedigree GOS breeders if a common sense approach was used by the BPA when dealing with small scale pig breeders.
 If I was to stop keeping pedigree GOS pigs tomorrow, then it wouldn’t have any affect on our breed what so ever. That’s because for the present at least, we’re at a stage where numbers are healthy but I wonder just how breeds that are struggling with numbers of animals and breeders view the BPA’s current subscription policy?

[Tamsaddle]

This post reminded me, now that I very sadly no longer have any pigs (since December), I ought to get on with cancelling my membership of the BPA, which I have done today.   It also made me look through my accounts for the 5 years I was a member - I got caught out at the beginning just as Bodger did by joining in the "wrong" month, but despite that, I was horrified to see how much money they have quietly helped themselves to - £60 every February, followed by £4.50, then usually about £40 to £50 in September as well.   Staggeringly expensive for very poor service, and throughout the time I had pedigree pigs, they were constantly getting details wrong, or the website wouldn't work and registrations and transfers that looked they had been completed at my end simply hadn't happened at theirs.    That organisation needs a big shake up, it is appalling the way they go on and the charges they force on pig breeders.

[shygirl]

None of the weaners we sold went to breeding homes even though they were from pedigree registered parents.

[Bodger]

I've had an E-mail back from the director of the BPA whose basically said that the details of their subscription were in the joining pack that I was sent before I joined. I think I mentioned the phrase "Like it or lump it" in an earlier posting.

This is the content of the reply that I've sent back to him.


"Part of your remit as an association must surely be to promote and safeguard the UK's rare breed pigs. These pigs are in the hands of a small number of enthusiastic breeders who quite often keep a small number of animals. By charging me £120.00 in the space of four months to keep my one sow, you've successfully knocked that enthusiasm out of me.

Many thanks for your understanding in this matter. "


What I haven't told him is that because it would appear that I have nothing to lose in this matter, I've just been in touch with the Farmers Guardian, who are going to be happy to run an article on my problem and the problems faced by small scale breeders of  pedigree registered rare breed pigs. Tallyho!