First and foremost - they're all just letters. A term created by someone to put a label on something. How long will it take the ARs to start using that term, or any other term that is adopted to indicate a difference between breeders? How many years, months, weeks will it be before the same argument comes up, regarding the modified term? What will we turn to then? My guess is "breeders who don't do things my way", because that's where the discussion I read was going. Really, we can come up with all the labels, all the distinctions we want, and the ARs are going to take it over regardless. It will get turned into a negative thing.
And when you get to it, saying "substandard" is saying that there is a standard. Who gets to decide that standard of care? The RARA's who don't deal with the animals on a day-to-day basis? The breeders who can't come to a consensus on how they should be raised? The ARBA and the USDA(as well as departments of agriculture in other countries) provide guidelines, however they are laughable. Many of these guidelines say that a small breed rabbit needs only 1.5 square feet of cage space, if it's pregnant, open or a breeding male(a nursing female needs a larger space, I can't remember what it was at this point). Dwarf breeds can be crammed into grow out cages until 12wks as long as they have 9 square inches per kit. Have you looked at 9 square inches, or 1.5 square feet? If I crammed that many baby rabbits into a cage, they wouldn't be able to MOVE. But I would be following the minimum guidelines as outlined by the ARBA and USDA.
So I ask you, breeders of any animals, to think about how YOU operate. Should that be the standard? If you breed a small breed, or have a small operation, and keep all of your animals in the house, are people who have proper outdoor housing for their animals substandard? If you feed on a schedule, and someone else allows free feeding, which of you is substandard? If you crate or cage your animals, whereas another breeder does not, who's substandard?
I'm not in any way, shape or form trying to criticize any breeder. I think there are countless ways to raise animals and still have it be ethical. I think that should rabbit breeder #1 prefer solid bottomed cages and rabbit breeder #2 prefer wire bottomed cages, they should have the right to choose which they use, and not have one or the other forced upon them. It is THEIR CHOICE and they need to pick what works for them, what works for their breed. I also think that more breeders need to accept that their way might be a right way, but it's not the only way. I've never been fond of wire bottomed cages, but I never said they were cruel or caused foot problems(they don't, it's a myth), because it was personal preference to avoid wire flooring. Recently I've expanded into a new breed and guess what? I hate having them in solid bottomed cages! I dug out my wire cages, put them in those, and had a ton of issues resolved(including FOOT PROBLEMS). Everything has a time and a place.
Now, a problem I am seeing with the term "mill type breeder" or "puppy mill" or "bunny mill" is that a lot of the time, it's breeders using it against breeders! As Ms. Norbury said "you all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores". Which is SO true. We have to stop the infighting between responsible breeders who care about their animals and their hobby, it's just making it easier for the RARA's to call us mill breeders, bad breeders, horrible people, whatever! Whatever term we make up, they will use against us. They will use them to drive a wedge between responsible breeders, they will turn the rabbit breeders against the dog breeders against the horse breeders. Divide and conquer only works if we LET them divide us.
Since we're all in it because of the love of animals(if you didn't love what you did, you wouldn't belong to the groups that I am seeing this fighting in), why don't we join together, all breeders, all methods. Just because you don't like what someone is breeding, or how they are keeping their animals, doesn't mean they are a horrible person. I'm not against breeder related education - If you think something is detrimental to the well-being of another breeder's animals, TELL THEM. Don't be rude about it, don't attack them, say "You should think about changing how you do ______ to doing _______, because ______". Most breeders I've met will either explain why they do it the way they do, and maybe change your opinion, or will change how they do it because you've made a calm, rational argument for your way, against their way, and you've helped them see the issues. Positive action and interaction makes for positive change.
I've done this myself. I was a new rabbit breeder, not very knowledgable, still learning, and I went to another breeder's rabbitry to buy some rabbits. The rabbits themselves were awesome, they were healthy and happy... but the place STUNK. Horrible ammonia fumes. I hmm'd and haw'd over it for a few days, not sure if I wanted to speak up, and voice my concerns, and risk getting a black mark against me, or if I simply ignored it, and was thankful that I bought well bred rabbits. In the end, I agonized over writing an email to the breeder, expressing my concerns, offering suggestions to help eliminate the problem, even offering to go back to the breeder's home and help her clean if she was having difficulties. She thanked me for my concern, asked a few questions herself and... 6 months later, I saw her suggesting the information I had given her to another breeder!! Isn't that how we want it to be?
Really, the long and short of it is, we need to stick together. Who cares WHAT terms we use to define unethical, bad breeders. The RARA's will use them against us anyway, against all of us. We need to make a distinction between good and bad breeders, and stop attacking people for not agreeing with your view point. If they're not beating their animals, if the animals are well fed, happy, healthy, then why do you care if that breeder does something different than you do! If it comes down to you calling names because they are winning more than you, or aren't selling to you, or are "stealing" your customers... Are you really in it because you love the breed?
A term is a term. No matter what the term is, it's not right to use it against other breeders, nor is it right to promote fighting between breeders. And yes, I have been as bad as anyone else about it, but I'm trying to correct my ways. I'm trying to connect with other breeders who have other species. I'm trying to promote the positivity that I think breeders NEED.
I am going to keep using the term "mill type breeder", because it helps define a specific type of breeding operation. There really is no other term that will cut it for those types of operations, no other term that instantly brings to mind the kind of neglect and abuse animals in mill type operations are facing. If you keep your animals in cramped, tiny, filthy cages, breed them every time they are receptive, and are more concerned with sales than with providing proper information, then you might be a mill type breeder, and I might call you that. Because, in my mind, the cramped, tiny, filthy cages and repeated breedings without concern for the animal's health, and profit over information is the definition of a mill type breeder.
And I'm not afraid to call a spade a spade.