ON THE ROAD WITH KEITH MOTT

THREE BORDERS FED NEWS - APRIL 2011

The Three Borders Federation got the 2011 season off to a great start when member sent 1,865 birds to Wincanton and the convoyer, Dennis Shepherd, liberated the convoy at 09.00hrs in an East /South East wind. The race was held on the second Saturday in April, right in the middle of a wonderful belt of good weather and although the race was very steady in the Easterly winds, returns were first class. The Esher & Dist. RPC drew first blood, with their members recording: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 19th, 20th and 21st Federation! The Esher supreme’s, John and Danny Barrett, had their widowhood pigeons tumbling over the ETS to tally up 1st, 10th, 16th, 20th, and their good friends Bobby and Danny Carter recorded 2nd, 3rd and 21st Federation.

This result was almost a carbon copy of the same race in the 2010 season when members sent 1,584 birds to Wincanton and liberated in to a light north east wind, on what turned out to be a perfect flying day. Esher & District RPC really started the new 2010 campaign in great style with two of their members taking six positions in the Federation result. The Esher club had problems with their ETS marking system on the first night and all the member had to clock their birds on traditional timing clocks, with Bob & Danny Carter recorded 1st, 2nd, 5th Federation on my borrowed T3 clock. Following close behind were the 2009 Federation Individual Point champions, John & Danny Barrett, recording 9th, 10th, 25th Federation.

Esher premier prize winners in 2010 and 2009 were John & Danny Barrett, who race their pigeon to their loft in Ewell and they recorded several top positions in the Federation, finishing the 2009 season winners of the Individual Point Trophy. Brilliant pigeon racing! The partners race their 16 pairs of old birds on the roundabout system and the racers exercise around the loft twice a day during the racing season to maintain their fitness. They are broke down the racers from Saturday through to Tuesday morning, being fed on Super Widowhood and Depurative mixtures, the same method as with widowhood cocks. The old birds do not fly out around home in the winter months and are locked up after the last race in September until the first round of youngsters are weaned the following season. The birds are paired up on Boxing Day each year and when the first round of youngsters are 18 days old the hens are taken away and then they are on the Roundabout, being trained well before the first Federation race. John and Danny like racing at all distances through to 450 miles and send their birds every week in the Esher club. The Roundabout hens and cocks are both sent to the same race and Danny tells me the hens raced best in the 2008 season. In the 2009 season the Barrett’s are now using three section of their loft for the Roundabout system, with the middle one being the nest box section and so minimize the time the racers see their nest sites and keep them keener. The 40ft loft is ‘L’ shaped, with grilled floors, which are cleaned out once a week and the partners are on to the ETS System for the first time in the 2009 season, maintaining it now helps out with trapping the birds. John and Danny don’t keep any stock pigeons and the main families raced are Staf Van Reet and Vandenabeele. The 40 young birds are raced on the ‘dark’ system, with them being put on about a month after weaning as it is still winter, with long dark nights and are taken off in June to start their training. Danny tells me the babies start their training at 20 miles because they tend to loose more on any tosses shorter than that and finish training with about three Winchesters (50 miles) just before the first Federation race. If the young birds are fit and well they are sent to every race, with two training tosses mid-week.

When Johnny Barrett was a young man he was a champion Boxer and started up in pigeon racing in 1968, and after a twenty year partnership with Ronnie Keeley went in partnership with his son Danny in 2000. The Barrett alliance has been very successful through the years winning the Federation numerous time and 1st open Combine a couple times. Danny says the Esher club is brilliant, being a good friendly set up with ‘red hot’ competition. Johnny Barrett has not enjoyed the best of heath in recent months, but Danny has been down at the Esher club every week and is one of the main workers on marking nights.

The 2010 season has seen the Barrett partnership enjoy another good year in the Three Borders Federation winning: (OB) 9th, 10th, 25th Federation Wincanton (1,584 birds), 7th Federation Wincanton (1,916 birds), 6th, 15th, 23rd Federation West Bay (2,163 birds), 10th Federation Wincanton (1,736 birds), 3rd, 10th Federation Fougeres (934 birds), 9th, 20th Federation West Bay (2,016 birds), 12th, 13th, 14th, 20th Federation Messac (931 birds), 13th Federation Exeter (1,135 birds), 6th, 22nd, 23rd Federation Wincanton, (YB) 4th, 9th, 24th Federation Wincanton (1,651 birds), 11th Federation Blandford (1,424 birds), 2nd, 10th Federation West Bay (1,292 birds).

Bobby and Danny Carter of the Esher club won the Three Borders Federation from this race in the 2010 season and came so close to making it a golden double, but just got beaten, recording 2nd, 3rd and 21st. The Carter partner’s race 20 cocks on the widowhood system and all the racers are mated up in December. Bob tells me the widowhood cocks exercise around the loft twice a day and during the racing season are broke down for the first half of the week on Depurative mixture, and then built up with Super Widowhood mixture in the second half of the week. Bob doesn’t show the hens on marking night and the racing cock only get their hen for a short time on their return from the race. The cock are not broke down for the longer race up to 450 miles, being fed on Super Widowhood all week and Bob likes the cocks to be holding 8 to 9 flights for these events. The Carter’s have about 50 young birds to race each year and have raced on the darkness system for the last two seasons, with outstanding success and great losses. Bob says, in his opinion the big losses with the babies each year is because of the Federations clashing! He trains the youngsters every day, weather permitting, up to 30 miles and races them natural to the perch, but they are allowed to pair up if they want. They race the full Federation young bird programme from 100 miles through to 180 miles. The Carter partnership race to two lofts, a 20ft x 8ft structure with a tiles apex roof for the old birds and another 20ft x 8ft shed for the young birds. The most important feature of Bob’s lofts is that they are dry and well ventilated. When I asked young Daniel if the partners like deep litter his reply was, ‘Our experience of using Deep litter is the amount of dust it creates and as my dad cleans out 365 days a year, it defeats the object of cleanliness.

Bob told me he doesn’t keep stock birds and over the last 20 years has purchased a lot of good birds off Barry Hall of Rayleigh in Essex, including pigeons to produce club, Federation and Open race winners. One of the most outstanding Barry Hall pigeons was the mealy cock, Champion ‘Rayleigh’, and he won eight firsts in the club and three firsts in the London Federation. The Carter loft has won about six other Federation races with Barry’s pigeons, including two 1st Federation winners in the 2008 season. Bob first met Barry Hall in 1984 when he sold the Carter butcher shops and when to work at Smithfield meat market in London, and says he has never looked back with his pigeon racing. He advised Bob on the widowhood system and supplied him with the birds to do the job. Another good friend who has advised the Carters with his health theory through the years is David Cook. The main families raced at the Carter’s loft are Lefebre Dhaenens, Janssen and Maurice Vereheye. In recent seasons a family of Vandenabeele pigeons have been purchased from Dighton & Lister of York and these birds have started to win from the outset for Bob Carter.

The South Downs club were the 2010 Federation Champions and from Wincanton their members were up there at the top of the Federation result, recording 4th, 6th, 7th, 11th, 23rd, 24th and 25th Federation. Leading the South Downs from the front, recording 4th Federation was the Staf Van Reet ‘ace’ Paul Arnold of North Cheam.

Paul Arnold has raced on his own for over 20 years and has won it all! He has won the Federation many times through the years and lifted many Federation average trophies, including the London Federation O.B. Inland Average in 2006. His fantastic Staf Van Reet pigeons have excelled in Combine Channel race over the years and have won: 1st, 2nd, 3rd open Combine Messac (three hens), 1st open Combine Le Ferte Bernard, 1st open Combine Sennen Cove and 1st open L&SECC Guernsey (OH). When I asked Paul about his family of pigeon he said, ‘I’ve had the Staf Van Reets for about 20 years now and they really are fantastic pigeons to race, and as I’ve always stated they are so good they make me look good. They are outstanding in any weather and any wind, but are especially good in head winds and, on hard days. I’ve tried many other families of pigeons against them in the past few years and none have come close to their excellent performances. I have been very lucky to own several ‘once in a life time pigeons’, but the two supreme pigeons are the base of my loft, in the form of the two Staf Van Reet Champions ‘Santa Vosse’ and ‘The Governor’. Champion ‘Santa Vosse’ is responsible for literally hundreds of winners all over the world, including many multiple winners of 15 up to 18 times 1st club. ‘The Governor’ is responsible for countless winners, including at least 80 Federation, Combine, Amalgamation and National winner’. A wonderful family of Staf Van Reet pigeons!

Paul’s present loft is a converted brick built double garage and the building was converted in the winter of 2003 by Paul and his good friend Barry Jarvis. The conversion work took a lot of planning, but says he has got it virtually right and the air flow in the loft is excellent. He has always raced on the widowhood system, but in recent seasons has raced what he calls a double widowhood, racing both cocks and hens. Paul returned back to conventional widowhood for the 2009 racing season. The widowhood team is normally made up with 16 cocks and 16 hens which are mated to the stock cocks. The feeding is varied; depending on the conditions and Paul mixes his own corn so can vary from one week to the next. The widowhood racers are sometime shown their mates on marking night, depending on the type of race and most of the birds are expected to race from Bergerac (450 miles). He never repairs the racers for the longer races and says he has tried it in the past and it has always been a complete disaster. On their return from the race the cocks get their hens for as little as ten minuets at the start of the season, but on really hard races they may stay together over night. The old birds will be given two or three training tosses at the start of the season, if in the weeks prior they are flying well around the loft and then after a couple of inland club races they are ready for racing out of France. In the 2007 season they were exercising around the loft really badly, but came out and won: 1st section E, 2nd open NFC Alencon, 3rd open L&SECC Alencon, 16th open L&SECC Tours, 5th open Combine Truro, 6th, 18th open L&SECC Guernsey (young bird) and 2nd, 6th open L&SECC Guernsey (old hens). Well, that’s pigeons for you! Paul told me, if they are flying well at home not much training is done through the season. Paul is a self employed plasterer and some times when he is very busy at work, his wife, Helen, and thirteen year old daughter, Charlotte, are an enormous help to him with the pigeons. He says, although they are not really interested in pigeons they will help out and do any thing around the loft. He would be lost without them!

The first ten in the Wincanton Federation result were: 1) M/M J. Barrett & Son: 2) R. D. Carter & Son: 3) R. D. Carter & Son: 4) P. Arnold: 5) R. Besant & Son: 6) Crook & Iddenden: 7) Crook & Iddenden: 8) M/M S. & P. Gasson: 9) R. Harper & Son: 10) M/M J. Barrett & Son. That’s it for this week! I can be contacted with any pigeon banter on telephone number: 01372 463480.