ABA yearbook

[Patrick]

Just got it, so haven't read it all, but fantastic job. Beautiful cover photos and background, professional caliber ads, and the articles, both old and new. I can't wait to read them all. Nice job.

[Evy]

Got mine yesterday.Couldn't agree more. Right on time, too ! Kudos to Karen & Cheryl. Good job, ladies.

[MattL]

Karen and Cheryl work very hard to get it done on time and a quality product. I have always said the ABA Yearbook alone is worth the price of membership. I have collected them for years and have them all back to 1920. Also have a few National Bantam Association Yearbooks which are very rare. Glad you'all enjoy them and will let them know your comments!
MattL

[Hummer]

I got both of mine in the mail earlier in the week. It's nice to see a quality publication filled with useful reference information, quality advertisers and timely and updated starred win information.

Great job,

Hummer

[Patrick]

The article on Call Duck variety names by John Simmet caught my eye. Will someone please give this man an award? It's about time that someone spoke out about this insanity with naming Call varieties. And he's talking only about bibbed vs self, not all of the rest of the kaleidoscope of Call colors out there. What genius came up with the plan to define Blue in Calls as always having a bib? Did he not ever imagine that a self blue Call could ever be created? What about Buff? Why is Buff a self colored bird as defined by the standard, but Blue is not? Now we'll have to deal with a similar problem when someone decides to go for recognition of Black, either in bibbed or not. I forget about the Chocolates, did their standard call for bib or not? Same problem, either way, as they just accepted them as Chocolate.

Most of the problem lies with those exhibitors who do not know what they are talking about. It's beyond my comprehension how anyone could own an animal and not want to know the correct terms for it's species, breed, variety or color, let alone breed and exhibit it, yet many of these breeders are the ones who submit their entries with incorrect breed or variety names. I don't blame the show secretary for listing them as the exhibitor entered them. It certainly isn't limited to any one show in particular. It's more apparent at big shows like The Ohio National, just because of the larger number of entries, but I don't think that they should be singled out. Especially in Calls, how is a show secretary supposed to know what a breeder really means when she enters a Blue Call? Does this person know that the standard defines blue as having a bib, or does she really have a self Call, but doesn't know enough to differentiate it on the entry? Now those who enter it as Bibbed Blue are doing their best to lessen confusion, but how is the show secretary supposed to know to group those entered just as Blue, with the bibs? I would like to see show secretaries correct other terms, for breeds where they know that the incorrect term is used. I'm tired of seeing Blue Slates, Black Spanish, Crested Polish, Buff Orpington (Ducks), Chinese (or Japanese) Silkies, etc, listed on the coop tags. People seem to have to add some kind of modifier to almost every breed name. In some cases we have show secretaries who are not that familiar with the breed and variety names. They compile the enries for a fee, sometimes for many clubs. It's a valuable service, one that I'm not willing to do, so I live with seeing these exhibitors enter their breed and variety names incorrectly.

I believe that the standard committees own some of the responsibility too. A little foresight might prevent all this confusion. I think that they should not blindly accept the suggested terms for new breeds or color varieties as submitted, without giving some thought to how the name may cause confusion with other breeds or varieties. They saw fit to recognize Magpie patterned Calls. Why was the Blue not recognized as a Swedish pattern Call? This lack of consistency with variety terminology is only going to get worse, with Calls especially. It's about time that someone holds these new variety breeders to a higher standard, and insist that they THINK before naming a variety, and, heaven forbid do some research first as to what the same variety is called in other breeds. Take a lesson from the OEGB breeders. If a new variety occurs in another breed, and you breed it into your Calls, USE THE PREVIOUSLY ACCEPTED TERM FOR THE VARIETY. It's not rocket science ladies, and it causes almost no confusion in OEGB. I know, I know, you just like the word Cocoa, and would love to see this fuzzy new color that popped up in your line, given that name officially. Doesn't matter that it's Khaki. That's beside the point.

Also, where is it written that the official term for Blue cannot be changed to reflect the oversight, and end the confusion? There is no official procedure in place in either organization to do this, that I'm aware of, but the boards have the power to do whatever they want. If Call breeders are affected by this, why not contact your District Director, the Standard Committee members and the boards, and ask for a change? Even the AKC, which doesn't admit it's mistakes easily, changed the name of the Brittany Spaniel to just Brittany, when evidence was presented to them which showed that the breed was not actually a spaniel.

FWIW, IMO, if they do add the modifier Bibbed to the name of the variety, to be correct, it should be Bibbed Blue, not Blue Bibbed, which may be misunderstood to mean that the bib itself is blue, not the bird, and cause still more confusion. I would prefer to see them called Blue Swedish Calls, following the convention already established with the Magpies. Then when someone does come along with a self Blue or self Black Call, following the established convention, the varieties could actually be called, hold on, Blue or Black. Imagine that?

[Patrick]

Another issue that IMO plagues the fancy, and contributes to perpetuating all of this confusion, is our refusal to hold people accountable to the rules. Blue in Calls for now is defined as having a bib, like it or not, as confusing as it is. Anyone who enters a Blue Call should have the bird cooped along with the other Blue Calls. If their Blue Call is actually a self, it should be DQ'd, according to the standard. If they enter a Bibbed Blue, it should be judged seperately from the other Blues, with any other entered as Bibbed. Same with a self, as neither of those terms are recognized varieties. The EXHIBITOR is required to know his own standard. It's not the judge's or the show secretary's job to explain it to him. It's a learning experience, and you can bet they won't make it a second time. But just like with deadlines within the fancy, we don't hold to our own rules. Someone enters a variety incorrectly, we cater to them. If they miss a deadline, we cater to them. Doesn't matter that most of the rest of the people were stupid enough to think that they were required to understand and follow the rules.

[dakers]

Agreed. The day I received it, I sat out in the shade in the backyard and read for quite some time. I showed it to my wife and said something like, look at this ABA yearbook; it's really outstanding, the way it's layed out, and interesting articles.
Great job ABA staff.
Doug A