Keith Mott

Writes about winning fanciers past and present

WARD BROTHERS

OF SOUTH ELMSALL

One of the premier sprint lofts in Yorkshire belongs to Ward Brothers. Although the brothers have done well from 400 miles, they are sprint specialists, having won 1st federation countless times; including 1st federation four weeks out of five in the very strong South Yorkshire Federation with 5,000 birds competing - a fantastic performance!

Bill and his brother have been in the sport for over 40 years, having been introduced into it by their pigeon fancier grandfather, who built them a small loft to get them going. They fly the standard widowhood system and Bill says that there are no secrets, their success being just down to good pigeons. They pair up at Christmas and the hens are taken away at three days on the second round of eggs, then the birds are repaired two weeks before the first race, when the cocks are trained hard up to about 50 miles. The racers are trained throughout the season as the Wards do not believe in the widowhood cocks just flying around the loft for fitness during the season.

They race the Herman pigeons, which Bill says are biggish birds that need a lot of work. They race up to 191 miles, which is the furthest the federation goes inland, and are re-paired for the long-distance races, with mostly hens being sent to these events. The widowhood cocks are broken down only on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning because of their very heavy workload. On marking night the nest bowl is turned over and the cocks see their mates for 10 minutes but Bill says that he leaves the hens and cocks together for longer than normal on their return from the race, probably until Sunday night. The widowhood cocks are fed a first-class Belgian mixture which is not beefed up for the longer races. The brothers have a very smart main racing loft, which is 60ft long with sections for widowhood cocks and young birds, and all trapping is through open doors.

Ward Brothers raced the 'Vandies' with success at their home in Pontefract in the 1960sbut when they moved to South Elmsall in 1970 they found these birds were not up to the job. Bill went to M. Herman's loft in Belgium to purchase stock birds and, as he says, the rest is history. The brothers said that M. Herman was only a small back-yard fancier, but his pigeons have dominated South Yorkshire for the last 30 years. In the racing loft Bill showed us many Herman cocks that had won 1st open federation for the South Elmsall lofts.

The Wards' 30 pairs of stock birds are housed in a nice, 40ft stock loft with a big wire flight and are paired up at the same time as the widowhood pigeons so that their eggs may be underlaid in the race loft. Bill likes eyesign but, when bringing in a new stock bird, looks for outstanding performance. One of Ward Brothers' famous pigeons was 'The Stallion', which won 1st South Yorkshire Federation twice. The loft is full of winners bred down from this champion Herman cock. Bill told me brothers and sisters of 'The Stallion' won 1st federation 19 times – a brilliant sprint family!

The brothers keep 100 youngsters each season and nearly all are put on the darkness system, with a few cocks being saved for widowhood later in life. The young ones are trained hard every day through to 50 miles and raced to Fareham (191 miles). Bill says that the darkness system is the way to race young birds but they are not much good afterwards. That's why he and his brother save a few young cocks each year. The young birds are paired up and raced to eggs and youngsters, being broken down like the widowhood cocks on Saturday and Sunday. Ward Brothers are two great fanciers, with brilliant performances!

That's it for this week! I hope you have enjoyed this insight into the premier lofts of Ward Brothers of Yorkshire.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT.