Since March 2013, the ZooEasy team has expanded with our new helpdesk employee Jolanda Kuiper. She is now working on all the questions about ZooEasy stand alone. In the near future she will also help answering questions about ZooEasy Online.
Jolanda Kuiper lives in Gelderland, a province of the Netherlands. Originally she is a goldsmith, but she also has much experience within the ICT. She loves animals. Jolanda Kuiper says: “Since my childhood I love animals. My grandparents had a farm, where I spent much time.” Nowadays Jolanda Kuiper lives with her family and an old cat in Gelderland. She also loves to take care of her Halflinger gelding and she is a sports masseur for healthy horses.
Jolanda Kuiper: “I am looking forward to know everything about the program, so I can help our customers to optimize their use of ZooEasy.”
More and more dog breeding associations use ZooEasy Online for their administration. Doris Knoester is the manager for the Australian Shepherd Club Netherlands (ASCN). “With ZooEasy we now have a nice tool to analyse and register all the data.”
Great references The club has joined ZooEasy in 2011. Doris Knoester: “We were using GSC Datamanager, but we were looking for a complete package that would give us more certainty for the future regarding the continuity and development of more functionalities of the database.” Doris then asked other breeding associations for more information. “I liked the way ZooEasy looks from the start and it had great references.” The ASCN uses ZooEasy mostly to monitor the health data of the dogs, like DNA results and hip researches. Doris Knoester: “It is also nice that the program calculates all the kinship and inbreeding percentages.”
User-friendly As the manager, Doris Knoester is responsible for the settings of the program and she is the intermediate between ZooEasy and the club. As a preparation, she followed the course of ZooEasy Online: “In the beginning I was reluctant: I didn’t want to do anything wrong! In practice it was better than I expected. It is really user-friendly.”
“A good preparation is essential” Doris Knoester has an important tip for associations who like to start with ZooEasy. “A good preparation is essential. Which data would you like to report and what should it look like? We have experienced that with double registered dogs and nests in our old database. If you have to correct that afterwards, it is a whole lot of work. ZooEasy has helped us a lot with this.”
Profile of the Australian Shepherd.
“ZooEasy for the members” The ASCN aims to open the ZooEasy database for all their members as soon as all the data is complete and up-to-date. Doris Knoester: “ZooEasy helps us to get more understanding of our population and we hope that in the future this information will be available for our breeding members. Just a little while ago I presented ZooEasy at our breeders meeting. The people were really enthusiastic and pleasantly surprised with this many data in the database!”Vo
Switching to ZooEasy Online? Would you like to have more information? Visit our website at www.zooeasy.com or contact us by mail: info@zooeasy.com.
From 1 February 2013 the following changes will aply to all customers who are using version 10 or lower:
- No free helpdesk support;
- Updates for older versions are no longer available;
- Outdated licenses are no longer retrievable.
All customers who are using version 10 or lower have received a personal e-mail about these changes. To still be able to use all services of ZooEasy, they can switch to version 11 with discount until the first of February, 2013.
Last minute discount Everyone who’ll switch to ZooEasy version 11 before 1 February 2013, will only pay 25 euros for the download version, or 30 euros for the CD version.*
After this period ZooEasy will increase the subscriptions to 29 euros for the download version and 35 euros for the CD version.
*Check the “Order now” and “Subscription” pages for the prices in US Dollars or British Pounds.
Buy version 11 now! 1. Go to www.zooeasy.com and click in the Stand alone list on the animal species of your choice
2. Click on Order now
3. Click on Subscriptions
4. Choose Download or CD version and click on Order by Internet
5. Keep your client code or serial number at hand and fill in the form
Have you already purchased version 11? Then ZooEasy has already prolonged your subscription for one year, all for free. More information about this can be found on our blog.
From 1 February 2013 ZooEasy will only provide free helpdesk support to customers with a valid year subscription. Also, from that moment on the updates for version 10 and lower will not be available on the website anymore.
All customers who are using version 10 or lower have received a personal e-mail about these changes. To still be able to use all services of ZooEasy, they can switch to version 11 with benefit until the first of February, 2013.
Record all information of your birds, rabbits, goats or other species!
Useful benefits of version 11 Switching to version 11 isn’t difficult. All records are kept, so everyone who has purchased version 11, can start right away!
The benefits of version 11:
* New features compared to previous versions!
* Free helpdesk support
* Free updates can be downloaded from the websites
* Also suitable for Windows 7 and 8
Also read the experiences of Yvonne Bijlsma, dog breeder from the Netherlands.
Print your pedigree and add your own watermark in version 11. Available for dogs, chinchillas, pigeons and all other animal species!
Benefits for fast deciders! Everyone who’ll switch to ZooEasy version 11 before 1 February 2013, will only pay 25 euros for the download version, or 30 euros for the CD version.*
After this period ZooEasy will increase the subscriptions to 29 euros for the download version and 35 euros for the CD version.
*Check the “Order now” and “Subscription” pages for the prices in US Dollars or British Pounds.
Buy version 11 now! 1. Go to www.zooeasy.com and click in the Stand alone list on the animal species of your choice
2. Click on Order now
3. Click on Subscriptions
4. Choose Download or CD version and click on Order by Internet
5. Keep your client code or serial number at hand and fill in the form
Information for users of version 11
Have you already purchased version 11? Then ZooEasy has freely extended your subscription for one year. You can find more information at our previous blog.
ZooEasy wishes you a merry Christmas and a happy 2013!
Since 2001 ZooEasy launched a new version of ZooEasy stand alone every year. For the first time there will not be a new version in December 2012. The reason for this is that ZooEasy has been occupied with further development of ZooEasy Online. As a result, there is insufficient capacity to develop a new stand alone version simultaneously. Therefore the development of version 12 will be postponed.
To avoid that no support is given in relation to the expiration date of the subscriptions, ZooEasy will extend the subscription of all users of version 11 by one year for free. This means that everyone who is currently using version 11 will still be able to use the helpdesk support and will receive free updates of version 11 (if you are using version 11!) for one year after the expiration date of the current subscription. You do not have to take action to get the free extension of your subscription. ZooEasy arranges this for you automatically.
If you are currently using an older version of ZooEasy, you can still keep doing that. However, all helpdesk support will expire for these older versions. If you do have issues with your older version, we recommend you to transfer to version 11. This is the procedure:
1. Open the Homepage in a new window.
2. Click on your animal species
3. Click on the left menu on: Order now
4. You will see the tab Subscriptions. Make your choice and click on Order by Internet
5. You can now continue with the data on the form.
As soon as version 12 is available, we will inform all users.
ZooEasy has existed for ten years now. The customers of ZooEasy are spread over the entire world: from a bird breeder in Australia until a dog breeder in Sweden. There are sold over 15,000 stand alone software programs to hobby and (semi)professional breeders, and nowadays over 40 breeding associations and herd books are using ZooEasy Online. This series about the foundation of ZooEasy ends with the story of Jacob Miedema, the very first costumer.
Addiction Jacob Miedema (58) from Franeker, Holland, has always been a fanatic bird breeder. “I have been born and raised with it. My father owned canaries, but I was more a tropics kind of guy. It’s an addiction.” At his height, Jacob Miedema owned 200 birds. In the past years he has won many awards, he has given lectures and judged many birds. He is also closely involved in several functions at Volièrevereniging De Edelzanger in Franeker. Nowadays Jacob Miedema has taken things easier. He now owns about 50 birds, like Turqoise Parrots, swift parrots, starlings, zebra finches and quails. “It’s mainly for fun now.” Twice a day he makes a walk through his aviary: “Especially the quails are very close to me. They come right up to me and eat from my hand.”
Ra-Bird Just a few people know that Jacob Miedema was also involved at the start of ZooEasy: “My friend Jan Weistra and me were breeding zebra finches at the time. Jan’s son knew Erik Reudink through their badminton association. Erik knew a lot about computers. Jan asked him if he could make a pedigree program. They asked me to join them, to give my opinion on the contents that are important for bird breeders. It was very devious, but Erik was good at DOS. Soon there were more functions available, like judging notes, features and characteristics, safety for the unique codes of the ring numbers. It was then called Ra-Bird.” Since then the program has developed more and more, until the name ZooEasy was released.
The secret is good bookkeeping With his years of experience at bird breeding, Jacob Miedema has some tips for bird breeders: “It is important to keep good records. I always have a breeding book in my aviary. There I write everything down, and every season I put that in my computer. If you’re breeding birds for contests, you will have to look at the quality norms of the birds. The beauty of ZooEasy is that you can write down everything very accurately. This makes it easy to sort which characteristics like colour and patterns you would like to strengthen en preserve. You can also track and keep up with blood lines.”
Satisfied with what you have The last ten years there hasn’t changed must in bird breeding. Jacob Miedema has become a wiser man on one topic: “I keep my birds longer to myself. If the quality of the birds is good, why should you want to discard them? In the old days everything had to be more and better. But at one point you should be satisfied with what you have.” A look back at 10 years ZooEasy brings up a lot of personal memories for Jacob Miedema: “I have bred and registered a lot of birds in ZooEasy. Most of these birds aren’t alive anymore, but their records are still there. I will keep on using ZooEasy as long as I have birds. It was just stupid of us that we didn’t ask for a part of the share at the beginning of ZooEasy.” Jacob Miedema laughs. “No, nonsense. Erik has done his job very well, and it has become a great company.”
The Turquoise Parrot in the aviary of Jacob Miedema
You can now read the complete series about the foundation of ZooEasy: The interview with founder and director Erik Reudink.
The interview with Willem Stemerdink, the first online customer.
Due to a holiday, our office will be closed from 28th July until the 2th of September. All orders and registrations from the ZooEasy stand alone version that have been previously placed or are made via our website will be processed as usual. Questions sent to our e-mail address or website will be answered from 3th of September.
Recently a few associations have joined ZooEasy as a new customer. ZooEasy introduces you to three of these new associations: The Dutch Chow Chow Club (Nederlandse Chow Chow Club (NCCC)), The Dutch Association for Domesticated Waterbird Breeders (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Gedomesticeerde Watervogelfokkers (NVGW)) and the Nationwide Association for White Swiss Sheepdogs (Bundesverein für Weisse Schweizer Schäferhunde e.V.)
First waterbird breeding association The Dutch Association for Domesticated Waterbird Breeders (NVGW) is the first waterbird breeding association that will use ZooEasy, thanks to the support of the Foundation For Rare Pet Breeds (Stichting Zeldzame Huisdieren) Edgar de Poel tells: “This is a special initiative, because small animal breeders have never worked on a combined population registration system before. This should contribute to the reduction of inbreeding and a better exchange of proper breeding stock between breeders.”
The NVGW unites breeders of Dutch and international domesticated ducks and geese breeds. A particular interesting project of this association is the reconstruction of the Twentse Landgans, a Dutch goose breed. In the heydays between 1850 and 1940, ten thousends of geese and goose products were traded and exported annually. Due to World War II the trade market stopped and the Twentse Landgans seemed to be extinct. Now the breed is doing better. Edgar de Poel: “The NVGW organises an annual summer breeders day and the breeders of the Twente Landgans have their own breeders day to exchange animals and to support breeders to select their breeding stock.”
Dutch Chow Chow Club The Dutch Chow Chow Club (NCCC) was founded in 1941. The Dutch association does not have many members, but the Chow Chow has a great population worldwide. Many foreign Chow Chow have a Dutch ancestor on their pedigree.
Janneke Leunissen-Rooseboom is the secretary of the NCCC. “The main purpose is to provide breeders, stud owners and puppy buyers of all the (health) information that will be useful to make a good decision regarding the dogs. They will need to find that information independently. That is the way it goes nowadays. For a right decision we want to provide more information than just the official health records and a three generation pedigree. As an association, we want to provide that extra information. We hope that our members will share all the knowledge about their dogs with the NCCC database. ZooEasy will help us archiving all the data and will make it available for all those who will have benefit of this knowledge.”
Bundesverein für Weisse Schweizer Schäferhunde e.V. The Bundesverein für Weisse Schweizer Schäferhunde e.V. (BVWS) is the latest customer from Germany. This is one of the first White Swiss Sheepdog associations of Europe and they have close bonds with associations in Switzerland and Sweden. The White Swiss sheepdog is very versatile and can be trained as companion, investigative or watchdog, but also for rescue operations. There are registered over 2000 dogs in the herd book. The goal is to improve the breeding of the White Swiss Sheepdog even more, to maintain a healthy and resilient breed.
ZooEasy is looking forward to cooperate with these associations and wishes them the best of luck with the start of their new online database.
Willem Stemerdink is the online manager for his association
ZooEasy has existed for ten years now. The customers of ZooEasy are spread over the entire world: from a bird breeder in Australia until a dog breeder in Sweden. There are sold over 15,000 stand alone software programs to hobby and (semi)professional breeders, and nowadays over 40 breeding associations and herd books are using ZooEasy Online. How did the first association came to ZooEasy?
Dutch Association for Stabij- and Wetterhounen
The Dutch Association for Stabij- and Wetterhounen (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Stabij- en Wetterhounen, NVSW) celebrates their 65th anniversity. In the past the association had its own database in a homemade MS DOS program. This worked out well, until the manager of this program became ill and the program was no longer supported. They then tried the data manager of GCS, but that was also stand alone software. It was a lot of work to spread this information to all the members. Willem Stemerdink of the NVSW says: “We met Erik Reudink before on dog shows, so we had met before. As we needed another program and heard that he worked on an online version of his software, we contacted Erik. We started out with ZooEasy Stand Alone, and soon after that we changed to ZooEasy Online.”
“I like to help at hunting training”
Willem Stemerdink lives in the east of the Netherlands. He and his wife Ieke have two Stabijhounen. “My favourite part is the character of the dogs. Let me put it like this: they don’t deny their roots. The Stabij has their own opinion. My wife likes that about them too.” Although the dogs are particularly of his wife, Willem does a lot with them too: “I help out at hunting training. I let them exercise with retrieving, searching, pulling a drag track, and more. They have been bred for that purpose once.”
Rare and endangered species
Willem Stemerdink speaks enthusiastically about the Stabij: “This dog is getting more populair. There is an increased demand for puppies. Because the Stabij is a rare breed, the mating selection must be very precise to spread the genes.” The Wetterhoun is even more rare, it is an endangered breed. Willem: “There is a discussion about the Wetterhoun to choose for lateral crossbreeding of lookalikes. A gene population research has been started in order to crossbreed a new dog. However, it takes about 15 years before the bloodlines of this new dog will become a full Wetterhoun again. It is a hot issue right now, but introducing a new dog will be the begin of a healthier breed.”
“Members like it when a picture is included”
The use of ZooEasy Online helps the association to keep record of the health data. A fifth of all the members has their own ZooEasy Online account. Willem: “The members use ZooEasy especially to find a male dog for a new litter. What male dog looks good, how is the inbreeding? The members make their own trial breeding pair. They also like to see the show results of their own dogs. They like it when a picture is included on the dog’s data.”
Good cooperation
Willem Stemerdink is the manager for ZooEasy Online and he also registers new members in the online software. “The program is not so difficult, it just takes some time. I also answer the questions of our members, but usually they do not have questions. The program is very clear to them. If there is something I do not know, I can always ask Jan Vissinga of ZooEasy, which is always a good cooperation.” Willem knows one thing for sure: “If it is up to me and the members, we will be a customer of ZooEasy for a long time. We are satisfied. At the moment ZooEasy works on a way to make the stud request automatically, and with that feature the program will be even more complete.”
Willem Stemerdink: “My favourite part is the character of the dogs.”
You can now read the complete series about the foundation of ZooEasy: The interview with founder and director Erik Reudink.
The interview with Jacob Miedema, the very first customer.
This column will give you useful tips and tricks on how to use ZooEasy. This time we got a tip from Paul Greeve, the ZooEasy Online manager of the Flatcoated Retriever Club (FRC).
The members log in on ZooEasy Online via the internet. Sometimes it occurs that someone cannot log onto his or her account, while others do not experience this problem. This problem often lies in the internet browser that has been used. Safari (Apple) for instance, works less well for ZooEasy Online. The members of associations and herd books may work best with Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.
Tip: installation of Mozilla Firefox on a MAC computer MAC users are advised to install the free internet browser Mozilla Firefox. Search the list for the download button of your language and computer system. The download will start automatically. It is advised to have a Mac OS X 10.5 or higher with a Intel processor. More information and a video manual can be found on the help page of Firefox.
The MAC users of the Flatcoated Retriever Club can now continue using ZooEasy Online with this useful tip. Would you like to share your tips and tricks too? Then you can click on the right on the link: “Mail us”.
Since March 2013, the ZooEasy team has expanded with our new helpdesk employee Jolanda Kuiper. She is now working on all the questions about ZooEasy stand alone. In the near future she will also help answering questions about ZooEasy Online.
