Anyone else here raise rabbits too?

[JAK Rabbitry]

My husband and I have just released some software for rabbit breeders and we would love some people to try it out and give us feedback. We're offering a free 60 day trial so you can play around and see if it will benefit you and help you stay organized. i'm just going to copy and paste an ad I wrote for a magazine for it. After we get the rabbits taken care of, we will be moving on to chickens/poultry!



The Meadow, unlike other software, is entirely web-based. You can get to your records, information, and the database from anywhere you can access the Internet. This is also means that, should your computer ever crash, your records are still safe.

This system is also a network, allowing breeders to 'friend' one another, make a webpage, and search for other breeders that use The Meadow. Also, as a network, you have access to the database, which will allow you to search for any rabbit listed in the system, whether it is listed as For Sale, Deceased, Sold, or Reserved. Handy for 'shopping' during the winter months when a lot of the Northern states don't have too many shows. Have a seat at your computer and type in the breed, color, age, and travel criteria for the rabbit that meets your needs. The rabbit will show you every rabbit meeting your standards within the mile radius you have selected, and will tell you the exact distance between yourself and the rabbitry without disclosing anyone's address. You can then, in turn, send a message directly through MM to contact the breeder that might just have the rabbit you're looking for. Think of how many people can in turn find YOU.

Just keeping your records and information up to date creates a web page for you that as easily navigated by other breeders and yourself. The MM Is very easy to use, self-explanatory, and user friendly. Make a profile for each of your rabbits. You can include multiple pictures of each rabbit, type in it's pedigree, keep track of show winnings, or make notes on each rabbit. Categorize each rabbit as For Sale, Sold, Deceased, Reserved, or as a Brood/Show animal; MM keeps them all organized and accounted for, forever. MM will also automatically track lineage, and link the profile of this rabbit's offspring (and the buck/doe it was paired with), siblings, and other ancestors. Each profile is in turn clickable, to direct you to this rabbit's profile and current owner. Handy if you're admiring a rabbit who may not be for sale, but perhaps you can find a relative who is just as pretty! People can also keep clicking to track the good rabbits back to you, or track down and buy back some of your old stock or breed back to a buck you may have sold years ago. So long as it's in the MM database, you can find it. You will in turn, have an actual web address you can put in your other advertisements and business cards. Even non-users can view your page and access the database.

Customize your page with different profile skins and colors. Import your logo to be displayed with your rabbitry name in the search options and on your web page.

You can also use The Meadow to track your breedings. Just select the sire and dam, and the date they were bred, and the MM will calculate the due date, AND send you an email reminder before the doe is due so you can make sure you get a nest box in there. After the litter is born, you can tell the MM how many kits are there, name them and list their colors and genders all at once, and hit just hit enter! The MM will automatically generate profiles and pedigrees for each one at the same instant. Other breeders can also use this option to see what you may be expecting in the nest box.

The main goal of The Meadow is to get us all on the same page, improve communication, improve our sales and our herds, and to make things EASY. We are offering this software as a monthly or yearly membership, and are giving you your first 60 days absolutely free to allow you the chance to try it out and see for yourself if this software can benefit you. We hope you'll be patient with us as we make improvements and corrections and wait for more memberships to improve the usability of the database. We are also currently implementing a referral program, so as you refer other people to The Meadow, you will be given the perks of free months.

We hope you will visit www.MeadowManager.com and look for our booth at the upcoming Conventions and shows!

Happy Hopping
Erron and Jesse Flaherty

 

[kayla_sayswa]

Hey there! We also raise & show rabbits. I saw your ad on CL awhile back and checked out your program briefly. I think it's great that you're introducing a new program - I'm all for someone coming up with good ideas and finding success.

Well you asked for feedback, so here it is...

I paid $80 (or about that - I can't remember, it's been a long time ago) for my breed managment software. It does everything I need it to do and more - show entry forms, labels, pedigrees, "what if" genetics, task masters, weight tracking, for sale lists, finance tracking, points tracking, etc etc. Backing up the data is simple. I'd be lost w/o this program.

When I first checked out your program, I recall the cost was going to be around $60 per year. Today when I checked, there was no price or subscription information on your website.

I know the best rabbits for sale are found by word of mouth and developing relationships with that respective breeder. I shy away from breeders that are constantly out there advertising in the over-abundance of rabbit classifieds on the internet. I can't help but wonder if this online "search engine" will be filled more of the latter types of sellers and not the former. Do well-established breeders need yet another outlet for their sale rabbits? I'm not convinced.

So the value, for me, simply isn't there. I paid a one-time price for my software, so I can't see why I'd pay for a subscription. Plus, what happens if I quit paying? Or, as you have had happen, the site crashes? What if I don't have internet access?

It would seem more valuable if you had a standalone product that could beat the pants off what is currently offered in the market but then add a "module" which would function like the product you're offering here. It would allow for on & offline "syncing" of your sale rabbits. I'd like to see my current program more customizable and more user friendly. If you could create something like that, then I'd be all over it - maybe. It's still hard to break old habits, unfortunately.

Being a self-certified nerd and techy type person, I applaud your efforts and bravery introducing this. Unfortunately, it's just not for me. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Ah, it seems when my husband updated the front page a few weeks ago, the original explanation on the front along with prices was moved, thanks for bring that to my attention i'll have it fixed. But the prices were $27 for 6 months, and $50 for 12 months. It comes out to a little less than $5 a month. So if you sell like 2 bunnies a year, it's paid off really. But I can understand if you dont need all this extra junk, then just paying a one time $80 fee is cheaper anyways. We're also introducing a referral program, so you have the opportunity of the perks of getting free months off your membership by referring other people, which also cuts back on cost.

We're constantly adding new features and we do eventually want to add a genetics program, but it's not top priority at the moment. We are also adding a 'To-Do' list with email reminders so you can make sure you get your stuff done on time. And not only do we back up the data in our base, but our web hosting service backs up all data every 24 hours. I'd say it's rather secure and absolute worst case scenario, you couldn't lose more than a day's worth of info. There is also the option of categorizing every rabbit you input as either brood/show, deceased, for sale, sold, or reserved. Each one in turn is filed onto it's own page, viewable by other breeders. When viewing ancestors in other profiles, the related rabbits have symbols on their pictures specifying where they are filed.


I'm hoping that by also giving breeders another outlet for advertising, i'm helping bunnies find a better life too. For the breeders that are more irresponsible and breed even when they dont have the space, this doesn't mean good news for the rabbits involved. They end up packed in other cages with other rabbits, fighting, and eventually either butchered, ill, severely wounded, or sent off to auction to find similar fates anyways. And the whoel time someone somewhere might be looking for a rabbitt hat met that description. More than once i've inquired with well known breeders on what they've had for sale only to find he just took everything to auction or the other actually butchers half his herd every year. And Having just started then, i'm sure his 'worthless' rabbits would have been pure gold to me.

A lot of people are just starting too, and dont know anyone. I've had SO MANY people email me saying they could not find a breeder closer, and I get people who drive to Pittsburgh from New York, Philly, New Jersey, Michigan, The Virginias, Carolinas, and even Atalanta GA. I've also shipped rabbits to San Diego, Los Angeles, Alabama, Alaska, and soon, Alberta CAnada. Because people cannot find breeders any closer. What if there was a breeder hiding nearby that didn't use any methods of advertising? Also over the winter, there are prety much NO shows up North, so a lot of breeders that dont advertise are stuck with stock. I've more than once had very nice rabbits for sale during the off season, and they just sit around and get older and it's sad. What if some 4H kid would love to have that rabbit and just doesn't know where to look? I have a woman making a 2.5 hour drive today for 2 pet rabbits because no one near her raises Dutch. And they're a fairly popular breed, I was surprised.

I dont think over advertising makes a bad breeder. Word of mouth just isn't always te most efficient of quickest way to move your for sale rabbits. When you free upt hat space after a sale, you can make progress and better your herd. More than once I've had does to breed but no room, so I had to wait. Bummer. Indeed developing a good relationship with other breeders you buy from is very important! But being a once-shy n00b in the rabbit world, I Didn't know anybody! It took years to establish my little horde of Dutchie friends. Looking back, it would have been nice to know who lived where and who bred what and what kinds of rabbits they had.

I hope also that rabbit rescues will be able to use The Meadow to advertise their rabbits and get them into homes, or even just to keep track of records and birthdates, etc.

In the end though when you look at any rabbit, through a search engine or on a show table, its your choice wether or not you buy it. There's good and bad show stock out there everywhere. I hope to also add a kind of user rating like ebay has,so you know who you are dealing with.

Even well established breeders have slow moments in sales, and we make progress when we have the space to do so.


If you stop paying your membership, your information doesn't disappear or get deleted, you are just removed from search options and you cannot edit the information you have there, but you can view it at any time. If you dont havei nternet access, well not too many people dont anymore! Wether they have a PC, I-things, Phones, more people are using the internet nowadays. But hey if you still dont have it, then I guess you can't use The Meadow.


Also at one point I was looking online to find more stock. I was on numerous websites, and a lot of them were difficult to navigate and some didn't even have contact information! I sent out maybe 15 emails. I thought myself lucky to have gotten back 6-7. And though I asked these breeders numerous questiosn about what they had for slae and services offered (like shipping), they wrote me 1-3 sentences and that was that. I wanted to kind of standardize the website so that you know what information is available, where to find it, and there, done. The most important aspects you might want to know from looking at another breeder's web page are hwat they have for sale, what they're breeding and showing, and do they win often? Are they being shown or is this breeder just making more rabbits? Does this breeder offer shipping? Are there any litters planned? How do I contact this breeder? I just wanted to help everyone get on the same page here with making a website, as not al ot of people consider what goes into making a website and what others might be looking to gain from viewing your site. Also people tend to go nuts with midi and moving gifs and make their own pages load so slow for some people, they're often skipped.


If it's not for you,t hat's fine. Stick to what works for youso that you can be the best breeder you can be. I hope that in introducing the Meadow, I'm helping others manage themselves better, also. And I have to applaud you for sticking to your own values.


Thanks for the luck! Perhaps combined with all the rabbit feet this will help other people.

-JAK