GEOFF & CATHERINE COOPER
1st UK, 1st International Open Villeneuve-Agen (Bordeaux) 22,029 birds
July 2nd 2011
Geoff holding Farmer George
The UK has enjoyed another great International success, with the confirmation that Geoff & Catherine Cooper of Peasedown St John have won 1st UK Section, 1st International Open on Saturday July 2nd from Villeneuve-Agen (26km further than the original scheduled release point of Villeneuve sur Lot).
The 664 UK birds were released as part of the International convoy at 5.45am into a light north-east wind. Those hoping for day birds could not envisage that the Coopers would clock as early as 5.32pm, nor that their winner would be followed home by a veritable armada of gallant UK day birds, 29 in fact, all flying the flag for Blighty. Many of these will figure high up in the Open.
Geoff & Catherine’s first bird (of 3 to their loft on the day) was Farmer George, a two-year-old widowhood cock from their family which has served them wonderfully well at all levels for many, many years. They were sat in their garden enjoying a glass of red wine when suddenly Farmer George flew low into the garden, landing on the roof of the loft. He quickly jumped down onto the trap and rushed into the loft to see his hen. He is winning the International by about 45 minutes. Farmer George was 3rd National WS from Tours 307 miles (490+ kms) on June 11th. This was his last race prior to being basketed for the International. He has also won 135th National Saintes and 150th National Fougeres. His sire is Farm Boy who has won many top International and National prizes and his dam is a daughter of George who won the Grand National from Tarbes plus many other top National prizes. When you look at Farmer George’s pedigree you will see winners in every generation. Geoff and Catherine can trace their top birds winning bloodlines back to the early 1980s imports. In 1980 Geoff introduced birds from Deweerts of Kortemark, and has had much success with them, and kept in close contact ever since.
Farmer George
They clocked another bird, called Shiraz, who is a son of PD when paired to a daughter of Half Blood Prince. He is at the moment 5th International and he may go higher when the correct distances are obtained. He is named Shiraz because local club member John Smallcombe, who won the National Section G from Tarbes the same day with a bird whose parents were bred by Geoff and Catherine, called round in the afternoon with a bottle of Shiraz for them. They told him they would open it and drink a glass to celebrate his win whilst they waited for their International birds. They had just finished the first glass when Farmer George came racing to the loft. As he already had a name, they called their second bird after John’s bottle of shiraz wine! PD has raced very well for Geoff and Catherine winning 2nd National section (provincial) from Tarbes and 2nd National section (provincial) from Alencon National plus many other top prizes. PD is a grandson of Farm Boy. Half Blood Prince won 3rd National Dax, 2nd National section Dax, 47th National BBC Carlisle. Their third bird is called Chimney Pot and is grandson of Titch who was an exceptional racer and breeder, being the sire of JW - 1st National Falaise, and grandsire to George - 1st Grand National Tarbes and a great grandson to Emile - 1st International Bordeaux for Deweerdt.
The birds are raced on the simplest of widowhood systems, paired in January, rearing two young birds at the start of the season, then separated until the end of March, when they are repaired and allowed to sit approx four to six days. The hens are then taken away and the birds are then on widowhood being exercised twice a day. During this time they have two short training tosses from five to twenty miles. There is no training after this, as it is not needed if the birds are exercising well and also there are so many Peregrine falcons on route. The hens are not shown before racing as Geoff likes the birds to be calm when they are in the basket, but he makes sure they are always there on their return, it is important not to let the birds down. All the yearlings go to 300 or 400 miles, it depends on how hard the 300 mile race is. The two year olds go to 400 to 450 miles and if this is an easy race then they may go to 500+. If they are fast two year olds Geoff may not send them to 560 miles preferring to keep them another year. The young birds fly the full young bird programme including any National or Classic. The cocks may be stopped after one channel race but the hens will go to as many as possible. In September Geoff organises a young bird National race with High Littleton club. It is from Tours in France, over 300 miles to Peasedown St John. Geoff believes that young bird channel racing is getting shorter and shorter and to have good pigeons they need to be tested as young birds. As Geoff races mainly cocks the hens need to be tested in their first year, any which do well are then placed in the stock loft and can be confidently bred from or placed in the old hens racing section.
The race birds are all fed on a mix Geoff makes himself, using Verselaga and Willsbridge corn. This year Geoff altered it slightly, a little more of this and a little less of that. He checks the food values of all the corn and tries to get the balance of fats, carbohydrates and proteins just right. When people ask what the birds are fed it is difficult to answer as Geoff may change the proportions of the mixture for different races, he thinks it is like fine tuning a racing car engine and different birds going to different races have different needs.
The home of the UK's latest 1st International winner
Geoff firmly believes in keeping it simple, health, motivation and fitness, if you can have all three together and you have well bred birds then success should not be far away.
The stock loft is the hub of the loft, it is from here your success starts. In the loft at the moment there are three National winners of Geoff’s and several sons and daughters of National and International winners. If someone does well with a bird from Geoff’s family then Geoff will always have one back for the stock loft. This way you introduce new vigour, without losing the winning line. Geoff’s advice to anybody would be buy the best you can afford, one pair close to the winners are better than two pairs a generation away.
This family have bred winners and National winners for many other fanciers. In 2010, six out of the first eight in the Grand National from Tarbes and nine out of the first fifteen all shared the same bloodlines This included Geoff winning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, National section G from Tarbes, 8th, 14th and 35th Grand National Tarbes.
Here’s what Geoff has to say:
'I have raced pigeons at Peasedown St John since I was thirteen, and racing in National and Classic races since I was twenty. I have bred a family of birds that win from 45 miles through to 650 miles. They are superb “All Rounders”, winning in fast races and winning on the slow hard races. I race mainly widowhood cocks, helped by my wife Catherine. This family is so successful that it has bred more National and Classic winners than any other UK family. In 2010 Tarbes National nine of the first fifteen had the bloodlines of this family.
In the early 1980s I purchased birds from Deweerdt and Vermote in Belgium. These two top fanciers had exchanged birds with good results from the distances I wanted to race at, which was up to 650 miles 1000+ kms, but I wanted them fast enough to also win in the shorter races as at that time I didn’t have much room to house a lot of birds. I purchased a daughter of Liesbet 1st National, 2nd International Barcelona, a son of Spiritus 1st National Cahors, a daughter of Filip 4th National Cahors plus other National prizes. Filip was the Grandsire of Emile 1st International Bordeaux. Later we purchased three children of Emile, two sons and a daughter. They all bred good birds for us, one bred Farm Boy multi International prize winner, another bred Half Blood Prince 3rd National Dax, and one is the Grandsire of George 1st National Tarbes.
After I had brought the birds home, it did not take long before these birds started to show there potency for breeding top class birds that were winning when other couldn’t clock. They are a family of birds that excell when the odds are against them. When it is hot and the wind is in the North East returns are usually poor, but not for this family. When the wind is against you, many would not expect to do well, but this family are a family of “wind cheaters” they can hold their own against the strong winds and help you to win when others all around you are struggling to compete.
Farmer George with his hen
My birds today still have these bloodlines running through them. The mother of George, our Grand National Tarbes winner was bred from a daughter of “350” when he was paired to “Gold Dust”. “350” was a son of “The Old Deweerdt “ and “Gold Dust” was a daughter of Bulldog, these two birds were bred from my original 1980 imports.
“350” and “Gold Dust” were a fantastic breeding pair, they bred pigeons to win at the highest level, but also bred birds which themselves were good breeders. Two Champions from “350” and “Gold Dust” were “Nicholls” and “21”. These two cocks, a nest pair won many top prizes, from topping the Federation from 45 miles, 80kms through to winning 3rd National Pau 559 miles 880 kms against the wind. On that day there was a strong west wind all day. “Nicholls” had to fly from the south of France, cross the English Channel with the wind blowing hard into his side, yet he still managed to beat any other pigeon, west of Portsmouth in the middle of England. He lost the race by five minutes, which after flying over fourteen hours was a marvellous achievement.”350″ and “Gold Dust” also bred “Fiddle” who won 2nd National Perpignan and 6th National Pau.
When I retired a good racing cock, I always made sure I also had good daughters of them in the stock loft. This way you do not lose the winning genes and can keep you at the top of your game. These daughters would be paired to other top racers of mine and then their children paired back into the original retired racers. JW” who won a sprint National from 320 kms and also won 9th National from over 800 kms is a son of “Titch”, who is a son of “53” who was bred in 1984 from the original imports. It is very important to study the breeding of your birds or any future birds you may be buying and see if you can trace a history of winning genes back for many generations. “George”, 1st Grand National Tarbes is also related back to these original imports being bred from a brother to “JW”. This is a very good quality of this family, not just do the very top Champion birds breed good birds, but their children and brothers and sisters to them also breed Champions. In many lofts this may be an exaggeration but we have record books going back to 1984, and they are one of our most treasured possessions, as they tell the life story of our family of birds.'
KEY BIRDS IN THE BREEDING OF THE INTERNATIONAL WINNER
“George”
“George” is winner of :
1st Grand National Tarbes, 4035b. 570 miles, 912 kms , with the fastest ever velocity from Tarbes. This is the most prestigious long distance race in the UK
42nd National Saran
30thNational Carlisle
1st HLFC Tarbes
1st HLFC Bordeaux
2nd National sec. Bordeaux
102nd national Bordeaux
17th Classic sec. Cholet
18th National sec. Tarbes
207th National Tarbes
2 x Ace Long Distance RPRA award
“Farm Boy”
Farm Biy is winner of :
190th National Saintes 640 kms
7th National sec. Nantes 971b. 479 kms
49th National Nantes 3158b.
56th National Saintes 4453b.
2nd National sec. Dax 846 kms
7th National Dax
475th International Dax 19420b.
17th National sec. Pau 896 kms
132nd National Pau,
2nd National sec. Dax
3rd National Dax
12th International Dax 17520b.
3rd Euro Diamond Dax
7th Euro Diamond Ace Pigeon
“Farm Boy” is sire to:
GB08N30061 -
1st Chale 282b. 112kms
2nd West of England Combine (33 clubs) Chale 3,102b
7th Fareham 424b. 105 kms
44th West of England Combine Fareham 4165b.
GB09N02231 -
1st West Bay 368b 80kms
3rd Seaton Bristol Federation 2191b 85kms
3rd Seaton 354b
1st Minstead 416b. 72kms
4th West of England Combine Minstead 4411b.
Grandsire to :
“PD”
GB06N00430
2nd National sec. Tarbes
14th National Tarbes 2833b
61st Classic Messac 2269b. 383kms.
63rd National Falaise 4417b. 334 kms
168th National Poitiers 5954b. 560 kms.
191st National Saintes 5315b. 720kms.
“Fleur”
GB09N02221
2nd Seaton 372b
2nd Seaton Bristol Federation 2191b
1st Fougeres 338kms
1st National sec. Fougeres 338 kms
127th National Lamballe 1549b 301 kms.
348th National Tarbes 2833b
The majority of our top pigeons share the same bloodlines as “Farm Boy”
This family has bred more National winners and top National prize winners than any other UK family.
Birds from us have produced:
1st International Dax for Mark Gilbert
1st grand National Pau for Harding Bros
“Morning Glory” 2 x 2nd National Pau for Paul Kendal
1st National Saintes for Stan Dangerfield
1st Classic Pau for Witney and Reed
2 x 2nd National for Richard boylin
1st National Tarbes for Paul Kendal
7th National Tarbes for Paul Kendal
More details of all these birds are on their website www.geoffcooper-pigeons.com
