VISIONARY STRAIN MAKERS
by Jim Emerton
There are men who become famous for their singular dedication to the perpetuation and perfection of a recognisable strain of pigeons. With a narrow focus and pedantic attention to detail, they lovingly line and inbreed to key birds, with an intense eye on progeny testing, performance and dissemination of the strain to others. Material gain and commercial profit are often subordinated to the overall mental concept of the evolution of a line of birds with distinct hereditary characteristics. In my mind’s eye they demonstrate an idealist and purist approach and with esoteric knowledge of the strain. A huge store and reservoir of personal knowledge is gone when these great men expire, to be but icons and memories in the fading mists of time. Most of these men are intelligent people, unique and possibly intellectual in a pedantic way. Two of these exemplars who have kept the ALOIS STICHELBAUT strain alive into 2014 from 1946 are Michel Descamps Van Hasten from Belgium and Gerhard Schlepphorst from Germany.
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Elimar - November 2014
