During the past few year’s farmers in the U.K. have had a lean time. The market for fresh meat virtually collapsed due to allegations about animals being affected by disease. Other farm products have also suffered due to competition from overseas suppliers.
All in all this has led farmers to consider diversifying. Some have taken up catering offering modern bed and breakfast facilities on their farm. Others have caravan sites or fishing lakes. Some have farm trails where visitors can travel across their land. In fact, ideas have been endless.
And all of this has arisen out of a necessity to do something different.
You can now ask, "What has this to do with budgerigars?" Just substitute the word farmer for budgerigar breeder and you will see what I am aiming at. The farmer keeps livestock as a livelihood. We keep budgerigars as a hobby. When the farmer saw his income being affected he thought of ways and means to diversify into another sector.
I feel that very few budgerigar breeders can earn a living from selling their birds. Those that do it, seem to do it well and I believe need no help from other directions. But the hobby in general needs to look at its future and in my view that step into the future needs more than help.
In place of income we look at membership figures and I get quite tired of those people who continually moan about the B.S. losing members. Yes, membership has fallen and to compare with the figures of 25 years ago is ludicrous. The people who continually complain about the drop are actually limited to a few who grew up to middle or old age in the period and are quite prominent in their absence from the groups who really try to arrest the situation.
There are people who are genuinely alarmed by the drop in membership of their Society, but they get no help from those very few who rush into print in their area society magazines criticising everything and everybody. Why they have not been invited to solve the problem worries those moaners.
They have the solution, but people don’t listen. That is what they think. The truth is that they don’t want to stick their noses out. They are happier condemning the efforts of others and people who try know that.
The B.S. for instance is an easy target for moaners and whilst we might not agree with everything the band of councillors do, they have implemented quite a number of new ideas in the past couple of years.
I think the B.S. could benefit through efforts and ideas implemented at area society and cage bird society level. They are in touch with the general public and are far better positioned to attract new people into our hobby. The B.S. on the other hand appeals mostly to the converted.
So how can area societies and cage bird societies do something different to holding meetings and bird shows. Well, try and diversify like the farmers. Why not combine with other local organisations (not necessarily livestock) and put on together events, which attract people. The proceeds could be donated to local deserving charities. I don’t think it matters what the event is providing there is space for a stand staging birds and information about budgerigars and the hobby in general.
I think we must face facts and realise that our Shows do not attract the general public. They are fast becoming mere windows for champions to show their wares and hope for big wins so that they can sell their birds.
Tell me I am wrong. I hope I am, but I doubt it.
We have to encourage people to come into our hobby at ground root levels and not at the parent body stage, working downwards. The B.S. can do a lot by encouraging the societies referred to by putting new ideas before them. They could be at the back of promotion and publicity drives to be carried out by the societies; they could ask those societies to distribute their promotion material to local vets, schools, garden centres, pet shops, etc. The B.S. is not the body to undertake this type of ground level work, but local societies could do it.
It is quite possible that some people will disagree with what I have written. That is fair enough, but in that case, why not come forward with your own ideas for publication in Budgerigar World. We all need to help in one way or another to forge ahead. We should, with determination succeed.
© Gwyn Evans 2000
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