JIM EMERTON TALKS TO
BRIAN WALL
A TOP RACER & THE MAN BEHIND GEM SUPPLEMENTS
Brian
What was the genesis of your interest in racing pigeons?
I was born and bred in Middlesbrough 64 years ago (I’m still a fan of the 'Boro' after all these years). My first contact with pigeons was with my grandfather and then I had my own team in my early teens. I joined the Royal Navy in 1964, for a few years I thought, but before I knew it it had turned into over 22 years. I left as a Chief Petty Officer. Within months of settling in Havant just outside Portsmouth (where I met and married Viv) I wanted pigeons around me again. I was very lucky to be introduced to local fancier Colin Bakes. Colin was a fantastic man and very popular with all fanciers in and around Portsmouth. I got some late breds from Colin and joined his club. I was very fortunate to win the first race I entered with a young tame hen he gave me called 'Little Blackie'; she was so tame she would land on my head in the garden. I am one of those people who if they are to 'do something' they do it properly and whole heartedly. This I have done all my life.
Please relate some of your successes with breeding/racing birds.
Over the years I have won club, federation, combines, classics and 10 x 1st sections in the National plus 4th twice and many other top positions. The best pigeon I have ever owned I bought at an auction as a YB for £5. It won the club and had some fantastic results in specialist clubs including winning Section A in the NFC two years running finishing 4th and 11th Open Nantes National.
National and Classic racing is what I do most these days, although I am always at the club to give a helping hand every week whether I send or not. Club racing is the backbone of the sport and we neglect it at our peril.
Brian's highly successful set-up
What are the main objectives of the gem supplements business and does top scientific testing/research take central place in evolving the products?
Within a year of leaving the Navy I had purchased an empty shop and made it into a pet shop. This is where Gem Supplements began. A friend and customer called Gordon Bailey asked if I was interested in producing this pigeon tonic he had. I said yes and we had the first of many meetings in each other’s houses and Gem was born. However, we never ever produced that tonic and I never knew what it consisted of in the end. Together we talked about what it was we wanted as pigeon men for our own birds. We both had some great ideas of what we wanted but putting these ideas into practice and then products was a long way off. It soon became apparent that the best problem we had was we were not restricted to one manufacturer, we could research and search for the right people and companies. Sounds easy but it wasn’t, it took months of hard work. Funnily enough it all fell into place very quickly when it did happen. We were introduced to a company who were the UK agents for a Veterinary company in Italy. They had just produced a product that they thought might be of use to us. We had a couple of litres sent over for us to sample and use on the birds. It was a Eureka moment for both of us. Overnight we knew we had something special. We gave some to a well known flyer who had won two Nationals and was regarded as a top, top pigeon man. We did not say what we thought of it, just asked him to use it for a few days. I'll never forget the phone call we got from him after two days. 'I do not know what it is and it stinks but it is fantastic. Get it on the market'! We had a contract drawn up within a week and secured the world rights to it, which we have to this day. So we had our flagship product Gemthepax. We decided to call the company Gem Supplements for no other reason that Gem sounded good and it was an easy name to remember. We then met a Biochemist whom we hit it off with from the start. He was and is brilliant and he was willing to do what he could to help us produce the other supplements we wanted. He has his own company in the animal industry and produces revolutionary products for that market. These are sold worldwide. He lectures all over the world such is his expertise. For some reason we hit it off from the beginning. From this partnership we have produced Strike, Flight Fuel, Progem Plus and Gardex. All products are tested both in house and in my lofts before we send them out on trial.
Gordon retired about 10 years ago when I bought him out.
Gem are always producing new products or have new ideas. Many fall by the wayside for various reasons such as not being good enough or too expensive for the market. I am very conscious that money is tight these days and we are all getting older and once retirement arrives fanciers have not got the money they had when working. So I have to be sure that the new product is fit for purpose and at a cost fanciers can afford.
Being a fancier at the coal face 24/7 and with all my friends being fanciers I have the day-to-day insight that fanciers have and I like to think this gives Gem the edge over most if not all other companies in the pigeon market. We now export all over the world and recently signed a contract with a company in Taiwan who wish to sell Gem in Taiwan and China. The boss of this company is a pigeon fancier, which is good news as far as I‘m concerned.
From small beginnings...
What criteria did you use to invent your well-proven race systems?
I race mainly widowhood as it suits my working hours (I work 6 days a week). Viv helps me by letting the YBs out etc. in the afternoon but I have to do the rest. So it is hard work, as most of you will know. I have in the last couple of years tried to race some hens; it is so hard to see good birds just sat there doing nothing. The trouble is getting their feeding and exercise right. I can only let them out after I get the widowhood cocks in each evening. So if I only feed them once a day they are looking for their feed and do not fly. So last year I fed them and then let them out. This did not really work and they did nothing during racing so this year I am going to give them a little breakfast and try to train them, if only to the unit (10 miles). Again this is hard work before you set off for a day’s work, but I need to improve their performance if I am to continue with hens. The cocks are no problem and do me proud every year so I wonder if the work with the hens is worth the effort. We will see. If it does not work this season I will only race cocks as I used to do.
Brian's loft
Do you use feel/intuition as well as logical thought in pigeon management Brian?
I believe feeding is the secret (if there is one) and is where a lot of fanciers go wrong. The other thing is that I believe fanciers go wrong by not having a proper ‘health regime’. By this I mean not treating at the right times and also treating at the wrong time and with the wrong product. I do not believe in antibiotic treatment as routine but I do believe there is a time and place for their use.
Have you any international/distance aspirations?
My main target for racing is sprint to middle distance up to 420 miles. I will try to send a few to Tarbes National, as I believe most birds can do 520 miles on the day given the right conditions. Mark Gilbert is proving this by getting yearlings from these races for fun. I certainly have no interest in any races above this distance.
The one thing that Gem has given me is the chance to help the sport I love. Sponsoring races and organisations where I can gives me much satisfaction.
Are there personalities/characters in the sport you admire?
There are many fanciers I admire for their performances and sportsmanship, too many to mention. But one partnership I will mention for these two reasons are Crammond & Langstaff of Fontwell. They fly a superb pigeon and are not in a practically good position. I have over the years fell into the pedigree trap and bought pigeons and families of pigeons because of the paper work. Not any more, good pigeon to good pigeon produce good pigeons. Not good pieces of paper.
I always bring a round a dozen YBs into my loft each year to see if they are better than my own. Remember it takes about 3 seasons to see if these birds are any good. YB performances I’m not really interested in. Yearlings can be hit and miss but as 2 year olds they need to have performed or they are out of the loft.
How can we improve the sport for all via sound publicity/ education/ politics etc?
The future of the sport is not good and I do unfortunately believe it will not get better whatever we do. I think that even though I believe the above we should try to improve the image because if we only get a few hundred into the sport each year it keeps it alive for longer. Youngsters will never become new starters in this technological age as there are too many other interests and hobbies. When I grew up in Berwick Hills council estate in Middlesbrough I was out the door at 8 o’clock and did not come in till it was dark. We had a bath once a week (if your mother could catch you) and all the lads had rabbits, pigeons, jackdaws, newts, frogs and many other animals. I had all the above including a pet grey squirrel. Can you see youngsters doing that these days? They would be afraid to scratch their new £120 trainers. Older men coming into the sport are the best we can hope for and are very welcome. We should all make sure of that and help were we can.
