A registered animal is an animal that has been documented in a registry and whose parents and genetics are guaranteed. A registered animal is not necessarily healthier than an unregistered, a registration merely proves that the animal is pure bred.
Should you buy registered or unregistered animals?
For breeding purposes, it is generally thought that it's better to buy registered animals, but there are several drawbacks to registered animals.
A registered animal can be as much as double the cost of unregistered animals, for example registered Kune Kunes are around $600, unregistered are sometimes only $100. Registered Nigerians can be as much as $1000, while unregistered are only around $100-$250. There is nothing wrong with charging more for a registered animal, but your consumer base when you try to sell the babies will change.
Registering the animal (s) can be time consuming for the seller, sometimes taking up to six months to complete the process.
A seller who registers their animals almost always has to know how to microchip, tattoo, or ear tag the animal. Some registries require hair samples for DNA testing. Also, most registries require you pay a fee to get your animal registered, but a breeder can just raise the price to cover the registration and the DNA testing costs.
People naturally expect more of registered animals and may be disappointed if your animal turns out to be just like the unregistered ones in appearance and health.
If you are raising animals just for pets or meat, there is no reason to get them registered. But if you are raising them for breeding purposes and are looking for a pure breed getting an animal with paperwork will eliminate a few scams and guarantee that you get the breed you were told you were getting.
Below is the basic steps for getting a Kune Kune piglet registered with the AKKPS (American Kune Kune Pig Society)
*Upon getting a deposit for the piglet (or once the buyers show up) we pull the required number of hairs and microchip
We then send in the hairs to the UC Davis laboratory of genetics for testing.
Once the tests are back, we fill out the paperwork.
Now the registry does the rest of the work.
*Some registries require you "litter notify" the whole litter BEFORE you register any of the babies.
Again, this can all take many months.
Some people will sell nonbreeding stock animals unregistered but also sell registered breeding stock animals at a higher price, this eliminates the number of animals you have to register, and also ensures that pet or meat quality animals are not used as registered breeders.
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