WHY DO WE SOMETIMES FAIL?

by Jim Emerton

A very difficult area to analyse is this one as it implies many negatives. Initially the loft and surroundings must be conducive to healthy and contented birds - I prefer the country for all round racing from sprint to marathon level. If you are a city loft you may have problems with controlled exercise periods. I do not favour shut up birds in stuffy lofts to enable me to go as far as Barce Int. I feel most city lofts will be adequate up to 500 mile club and fed type racing, and there are some good ones, yet many fail in national and international racing. Cats, neighbours and difficulty with free ranging may induce problems. On a psychological note a real lack of dedication/focus/persistence and other personality traits may seriously handicap the fancier, particularly regarding ambition/desire and work ethic. Fanciers in clubs compete ego to ego for status and supremacy, mainly male behaviours and mental processes which are fiercly contested on housing estates etc. In relation to the quality of the birds, good birds abound in most families of birds and some people fail to condition them optimally, or do not enter the races where results speak volumes. On a positive note, if we give intense study to gradual and consistent improvement then if we are right, in an effective system we will do so. I started racing in 1976 and am still trying to improve our Barce Int performances, motivated by love and obsession to strain perfection.

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Elimar - June 2014