Parkinson. L J
Every now and again a question comes up in pigeons and the one at the moment is “How many young birds do we need to breed off a pair to find winners”. Breeding is the most important part of pigeon racing because if you don't get it right you have not only lost that season but the following two seasons because you have nothing to follow on in the race team. I dare bet now that nearly every loft has a cock and hen that they could pair together to breed winners on a more regular basis. The problem is finding those pigeons; you need to be a good stock person as well as a very good pigeon fancier to find those valuable pairs. I have noticed over the years that there is a higher than average number of farmers who win the pigeon races and that is not by accident. They are stock people who have grown up around breeding animals and that stock sense does show up in pigeon fanciers, a few years ago, we had three farmers here in Middlewich racing pigeons and they were all good at it.
I have just done a loft report on Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw from Shavington and we were discussing the very same point and he said because he is more interested in the racing side he puts his cocks and hens into the racing loft and lets them pair to what they want. He will then look at the pairings and if there are any he particularly likes he will breed off them otherwise they are used as feeders no matter what they have won. Nigel is a self-employed builder which he is good at and I think that if you are someone who that get up and go do have a good instinct about other things and in this case pigeons. What Nigel does not do and I found this with the three farmers who were racing in the town, he does not go out and buy pigeons because they are the flavour of the day, he buy's pigeons because he wants them to do a job. The late Denis Gleave did go out and buy a few pigeons but they were mostly ones that we had not heard about but we did when he got hold of them. There are a lot of fanciers who buy pigeons because they are the flavour of the day and not because they are good pigeons. We see pigeons come onto the scene because there is so much publicity about them fanciers believe they are the world’s best but when you look at the basic results they are mostly no more than average. There are far better fanciers here in the UK than on the continent but because they are not from Belgium or Holland and have page after page written about them they do not get the credit, it's a fact of life.
Looking back into the 80's - Mick O'Grady, Brenda Stretton, Joe Shore, George Walley and Arthur Richards
The late Jim Biss who was a great fancier was once asked the question, "Where are the best continental pigeons" his reply was, "Here in the UK" and I feel that he was right, many won't agree because they don't make as much money but I still agree. There are some real good fanciers here in the UK whose pigeons quietly make good and they would stand up to and successfully compete against any fancier in the world on an even playing field. I am going to give you an example of a sale that is coming up and what the changes will be. For certain reasons I am not going to leave the name out of the fancier concerned in this next piece. I have been asked to do the clearance sale later in the year for a very knowledgeable fancier when it comes to breeding winners. He has been half of one of the most if not the most prolific breeding lofts in the UK since I can remember starting in the sport. He brought in some really good Veenstra pigeons that at the time were the flavour of the day and they have bred some really good winners and I think 13 are direct and cost a lot of money, don't quote me on this but I believe they were over £50,000 but they were handpicked by this fancier. They have bred winners because this fancier has stock sense and has dealt with other animals with great success, he knows what he is looking for and gets it right. As he said he is now in his mid-80's and cannot do what he used to do so they have to go. I am reliably told that he paid over £50,000 for those 13 pigeons because they were not only good pigeons but the flavour of the day. So, I suggested that he sends them back to the continent to maximise his income from them and probably get nearer the prices that he paid for them. However, as he said he does not expect to get back what he paid for them because they have gone off the scene and this happens with pigeons all the time. Pigeons soon become the forgotten strain. Getting to the point this fancier is a good stock man and from those 13 pigeons he bought that he paired up himself, they have bred winners of one sort or another but they are in the early stages so who knows what will happen to them in the future. I spoke to a friend of his who had some and he said they are really good pigeons and he expects his to go on and win more and themselves breed winners. Now that is a good stock man who goes out and buy's a few select pigeons and they breed winners straight away. How many fanciers go out and buy pigeons and never breed anything off them but they pass them on only to see the new owners breeding winners form them. Yes, getting back to the question of how many you need to breed off a pair to find winners, I say 6 for the average fancier but those who are good stock people will need far less to produce the winners. I can hear someone now, he's off on one again, yes but that's how I feel when I am writing, I am passionate about pigeons and cannot help it and I don't apologise for that.
We were on the subject of the breeder/buyer sales recently and some are not doing as well as they used to do. The B/B sales are not seen as a way of bringing new birds and picking up a few bob in the process like they used to be. I feel that fanciers in most cases used to buy them as a way of selecting and testing birds that someone else has bred to see how they can go on with them. There is also the other point and that is many put them into the sales and buy their own back to race for the prizes on offer. The sport went through a phase where top fanciers were putting young birds into these sales but fanciers were buying them and not racing them because they thought they would make good stock birds because of who bred them. Many of the top breeders realised what was happening and stopped putting into these sales which was a big setback. There is also the point that part of the decline in these sales is no doubt down to the fact that the percentage of young birds are lost before they can make an impact on a new loft therefore money lost straight away. Even so there are some good pigeons come out of these sales and it is a case of having the luck of the draw to make the right choices when you are making your bid. Most fanciers have bought youngsters in these sales at some time or another and many have had a lot of success with them or their offspring. Bringing a few young birds in each year is something that I mostly did because we need to find a few additions to the loft and if you buy 10 or 12 young birds from one loft you have a good chance of getting a few good ones out of them. We also have to remember that we have a better chance of getting a good new introduction from a small team of young birds because no one knows what they are going to turn out like, not even the breeder. Had a call from across the pond about the pigeons of Mr & Mrs Geoff Kirkland. During my conversation with Geoff we were discussing how long he had been winning. The answer was 70yrs which was when he first started racing with his father. The next question was, “Have you ever had a year when you have not won prizes”. He went quiet before he answered, which was expected from such a good fancier, “Not that I can recall, I am sure that I have won prizes every year since I first started racing pigeons”. It is quite some record for any fancier to have but to also win 11 x 1sts 6 x 2nd 7 x 3rds National along the way then that is even sweater, oh yes plus over 40 x 1sts section. Geoff went on to say that there are also a lot of other fanciers winning with his pigeons. He was saying that he had a really good team years ago but “The Snake” and his offspring have probably produced more winners than any other pigeon that he has had and there are some special ones. Other class pigeons include “Tony’s Boy” “Angoulemer” “01514” who won Angouleme and bred an Angouleme winner. A great hen “Zola” named after Zola Budd, she topped the fed three weeks running plus many more positions. Then we have “Hero” a 1st National winner who has many winners following in his footsteps. Geoff has had some good pigeons over the years and I remember the first time I went to see him when he had a great pigeon called the “Pest” who was a really good pigeon. By the way a direct daughter of the “Pest” won the “Hall of Fame” twice in America. I remember sending some of Geoff’s pigeons to Australia and winners were reported straight away from them and there are some in quarantine waiting to go and requests for more. I also shipped some of Geoff’s to Malta and they won and what makes them so attractive is they are so versatile. I personally know quite a few fanciers who have Geoff’s pigeons and are winning well with them and there are no doubt many more whose performances are down to these pigeons. Thinking about it there are several pigeons that could be listed that are by far better than the average pigeon that Geoff has had over the years. He has to be one of the very best all-round fanciers that we have ever seen and one that many fanciers would aspire to be as good as. We very often see pigeons that stand out that much more and it can go through your mind, “How do they get them looking so good”. Well we have a holding loft for a limited amount of pigeons in Middlewich for the Elimar auction site. We have sold some pigeons for a fancier who admitted that he had bought many pigeons and put them in a loft never to breed off them and in fact apart from feeding them had left them alone. There were many really well bred pigeons amongst them and it was a shame that they were not being bred from. When they arrived, it was obvious that they had not had access to a bath and had the attention as much as they needed and I was thinking we would have to keep them a few weeks before selling them. But that was not the case because they were being housed in the old racing lofts of O’Hare & Woodward and they were looking after them. Within two weeks their quality was obvious because they were looking as if they were ready for a race. This partnership were very successful right through to National level and they put their expertise into these pigeons and what a good job they did of them.
Philip & Cara Peers-Smallwood - Philip & Cara with Bishop William
Just got over Philip & Cara’s wedding at Gawsworth Church near Macclesfield. Philip is Lizzie’s son and she is the one who answers the phone most of the time here in the office. It was a good day and the wedding ceremony was different but one that I think everyone enjoyed made by Bishop William (see photo) who is a real character. If there were a few more like him in church they would be full every week. Going through my photos is bringing back a few memories of long ago. Found one that I cannot remember having but I did because in the early 80’s of Mick O’Grady, Brenda Stretton, Arthur Richards, Joe Shore and George Walley.
Les J Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive,
Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.
01606836036 Mobile 07871701585.
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web site www.elimarpigeons.com
