Keith Mott

Writes about winning fanciers past and present

Ponderosa U.K. Stud visit.

A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from my good friend Brian Batchelor, asking me if I fancied a day out in Weymouth to visit the Ponderosa U.K. Stud. I though to my self, that would be nice, I haven't seen the Ponderosa gang for a long while, although I see Tony Hayne at the B.H.W. Blackpool Show every year, I hadn't seen Mary Bartlett for about ten years, so my answer was yes. Brian comes from New Zealand originally but now lives and runs the post office in Elstead, Surrey . His pigeon fancier friend, Andrew Reyland, was over on holiday from down under and was keen to visit the Ponderosa U.K. Stud, as he had won the New Zealand Young bird National in 2007, with a Janssen pigeon bred down from the Ponderosa bloodlines. It was a nice sunny Saturday morning early in August when four of us, Brian Batchelor, Andrew Reyland, Peter Taylor and myself set off for the 125 miles journey down to Dorset , with the only hang up being the horrendous weekend holiday traffic on the roads. Brian and I used the trip to train the youngsters and had a great toss out of Lyndhurst (70 miles), in spite of the very warm conditions and N.E. wind. On our arrival at the Chickerell stud we got the usual Ponderosa warm welcome from Tony and Mary, and I must say it was great to see them again! I had a nice catch up chat with Mary and she informed me that the Stud was moving this winter to a new site, just up the road in Green Lane , Chickerell. The reason for the move is that there is a couple of very large housing developments pending in Putton Lane and the now very 'green' out look for the stud will be swallowed up with new houses. I have included two artist's impressions of wonderful new establishment in Green Lane , which will up and running for breeding in the spring of 2008. I can't wait to see it!

Andrew Reyland lives in Waikito, near Hamilton on the North Island of New Zealand and has been a fancier since he was ten years old. His father, Basil, was an outstanding pigeon racer in the long distance events. For many years Andrew flew in partnership with his dad and had great success flying birds obtained from Bill Frankson of Hamilton . Andrew is a Dairy Cow agent and started racing on his own at the age of 22, and has always raced the natural system, but recently had to pack up pigeons because of ill health. He had 15 natural racing pairs and ten pairs of stock birds, with the main family being Ponderosa 'Marilyn' Janssens, with a few old Jones long distance family pigeons. Mr. Jones was a South African fancier who moved to New Zealand and raced for about 15 years, but Andrew says, he had a very big impact on the sport in New Zealand with his fantastic performances. His best stock cock was AUST 93 7983, 'Ponderosa Cock', bred by the Ponderosa Stud from their 'Marilyn' Janssen bloodlines and was originally owned by Brian Batchelor. Andrew paired his old birds up the second week in July and tells me their racing is the complete opposite to ours in the U.K. , with the old birds racing from September to December and young birds from March through to May. He liked all racing from the middle distance through to the long distance (725 miles), which is very hard because of the mountainous terrain and liked his birds to have an open loft most of the time. Andrew says flying to Waikato the birds come through about 150 miles of mountain country, often shrouded with mist and beaten with rain. Andrew has always been a heavy feeder and gave the birds a high level of protein until about 3 to 4 weeks before the classic races. He never starved his young birds to get them to trap quickly and maintains you end up with unhappy birds, and they loose interest half way through the season. Starved young birds don't grow or moult well and don't make good old birds. His racing loft was an 18ft x 10ft, four section structure, with open door trapping and he says he had his best success with cocks sitting ten day old eggs.

The young birds had about 15 training tosses and raced through to 300 miles. The youngsters were split in to their sexes, also were given an open loft and were never allowed to pair up and lay eggs. Andrew bred the 2007 New Zealand Young Bird National winner, a blue chequer hen, out of Ponderosa 'Marilyn' Janssen pigeons obtained from Brian Batchelor before left New Zealand to live in the U.K. and Andrew's out of area handlers were Gavin and Andrew Fry of Christchurch . This game hen won the race from Waipukarau and was sent paired up, but had not laid any eggs. This National race is a 300 miles fly to the loft for the young birds and they have to cross the mighty Cooks Straights, which is a great achievement in it's self. The Reyland pigeons have won many major positions through the years including 1 st . Waikato Young Bird Classic the last three seasons, twice with descendants of the old 'Ponderosa Cock'. One year he was 1 st . and 2 nd . by ten minuets in this major classic event, with two full sisters and granddaughters of the 'Ponderosa Cock'. Another time, on of Andrew's winners of this classic, which went on to win the old bird classic as a yearling was also Ponderosa bloodlines. The Andrew Reyland winners go on and on!

In September 1996 Tony Hayne and Mary Bartlett, the management duo of the Ponderosa UK Stud at Weymouth , invited me to make a video of the English Breeding Centre. After two days filming at the Chickerell Lofts, a trip to Brummen in Holland was planned to film the two mother studs and the founders of the Ponderosa Dynasty, Hans Eijerkamp and sons.

I had a brilliant few days in Holland with Tony Hayne and Gordon Johnson of Gwent. We went over in the Ponderosa van, via Harwich, and the ten-hour night sailing was very pleasant. The ferry was like a mini ­holiday camp with carvery, bars, disco, cinema, casino and cafes, it all really added to the trip. The Greenfield and Ponderosa Holland studs are about a 100 miles drive when you get off the ferry at the Hook of Holland , but the effort is well worth it. When you get there you will see one of the best pigeon set-ups in the world. The Ponderosa is the original of the UK Breeding Centre in Weymouth , even down to the different colored nest box fronts.

The Greenfield Stud is by far the greatest pigeon set-up I have ever seen, and can only be described as fantastic. The Eijerkamp family lives and races their pigeons at Greenfield and all the ace stock birds live there. We saw all the great champions such as 'Wonderboy 05', 'General', 'Goldrush' and the latest ace to join the breeding team `Flits 85`, winner of 1st St Ghislain (3,824 birds); 1 st Houdeng (2,221 birds); 1st St Ghislain (1,938 birds); 2nd Houdeng (3,288 birds) and 2nd St Ghislain (1,757 birds). Wonderful pigeons! We didn't see the great 'James Bond' as he was then 13 years old and not filling his eggs, and was abroad having fertility treatment. Hans Eijerkamp started the Greenfield and Ponderosa Studs at Brummen many years ago and can now claim to be truly international, with studs throughout the world. A breeding centre was formed in China in 1995 and this houses 100 breeding pairs, producing only for the Chinese market. 1996 saw a stud formed in Poland with 100 breeding pairs and this has proved to be highly successful and will be increased to 200 pairs in 1997. In Holland the Ponderosa houses 200 breeding pairs and all the ace stock birds live at the Greenfield Stud with 1,500 other pairs. Every year the Ponderosa Stud organized an international one-loft race, with pigeons from all over the world taking part. The UK Stud houses 27 families, with Janssens being the mainstay, and pigeons have been exported to 14 different countries in recent months. Countless winners with Eijerkamp pigeons are reported every year including 1st National Mettet Rayon (22,000 birds); 1st National Ruffec Rayon (10,992 birds); 1st National Munchen (7,500 birds); 1st National Ruffec Rayon (6,228 birds); 1st National Munchen Sector (2,500 birds); 1 st National Dax (2,268 birds); 1st National Pau (1.200 birds) and 1st National Pau CSC (1,569 birds).

The Eijerkamp family owns one of the biggest furniture businesses in Holland and we visited the massive store in Zutphen. There is a pigeon room in the store where fanciers hold moots and presentations. The store covers 40,000 square metres and if a fancier purchases a suite of furniture over a certain price, they get a free Ponderosa pigeon. Once a month there is a prize of a new mountain bike for the best Dutch performance by a Ponderosa pigeon and this will start in England in 1997. The Eijerkamps are a wonderful family and their motto is 'quality', whether it's furniture or racing pigeons.

We went out to dinner one evening with Hans Eijerkamp and his son, Evert-Jan and they really are pigeon fanatics, with an overwhelming keenness for the sport. Loft managers at the two studs were all top class fanciers including the Ponderosa loft manager, Anton Koster, who won 1st Open National in his own right, in recent seasons. Marco Klein Falckenborg, the export manager, and Henk Jurriens, office manager, are both top fanciers in the Dutch sport and both started at the Ponderosa as lads scraping out the lofts.

Since the very early 1970s English pigeon fanciers have been breeding and racing with great success the pigeons of Hans Eijerkamp's Ponderosa-Greenfield Stud in Holland . These birds proved to be so popular that to make them more freely available to the UK enthusiasts, Hans Eijerkamp founded the Ponderosa UK Stud. This allowed anyone who wished to visit the stud at Weymouth to handle the stock pigeons and to select their own youngsters from the nest if they so desired. No quarantine, and no more waiting for delivery. In 1985 the first 20 stock bird pairs were moved to the breading loft in Weymouth , birds specially selected by Hans Eijerkamp, all descendants from the ace pigeons were imported to the UK . Success followed until 1989 when the brand new Ponderosa UK Breeding Centre was built. No expense was spared with this ultra-­modern new breeding centre, that now houses 27 different strains.

Quality not quantity has been the motto of Hans Eijerkamp and his sons, along with Tony Hayne and Mary Bartlett of the Ponderosa UK Stud in Weymouth . Many fanciers have found success in breeding and racing Eijerkamp pigeons in such countries as Australia , New Zealand , Canada , America , Kuwait , China and all over Europe . The Ponderosa is truly an international pigeon stud!

As I've already stated the Greenfield Stud was the best pigeon set up that I've seen, with the main loft being built like a small block of luxury flats. There were several computers installed in the lofts, for instant verification of pedigrees and comfortable look out offices high in the air, where the Eijerkamp's sit and wait for the birds to return from the races. Fantastic fanciers, with fantastic pigeons!

That's it for this week. I hope my readers have enjoyed my little insight into the Ponderosa Stud. I can be contacted on telephone: 01372 463480. See yer!