Jim Emerton
ARTICLES
AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN HALSTEAD
John holding Untouchable
Many fanciers will be aware of John's excellent booklet and videos. Now he has won the Barcelona into the UK, a marvellous achievement. I asked him some questions.
When did it first dawn on you that you wanted to race pigeons? I won my first race in 1967 with a dark cheq hen that was sitting eggs. It was the last y/b race of that season and we were first Todmorden H.S 2nd South East Lancashire Fed. This first win was the starting point and gave me the desire to win more races with pigeons.
Describe to us your feelings on winning the National Barcelona from a huge convoy of 28000 pigeons? Preparation for Barcelona had gone extremely well and my two entrants were delivered to the marking station on Sunday the 28th June in fantastic condition. I was very confident that I would do well in the race and was very much looking g forward to race day to see if my confidence would be rewarded. I did various routine jobs around the loft and actually started watching for race birds (I had also entered two for NFC Tarbes on the same day) at 10.00am. Most race days we hardly see any pigeons other than my own and at 11.30 my eyes were attracted to a pigeon diving down like a youngster on to the apex of the lofts tiled roof. I could see immediately that it was the blue pied and my father had also seen it land. I shouted 'it's from Barcelona' the bird trapped instantly. I timed the first rubber and then picked him up again to read the wing mark and time the second rubber. I made sure he was in his box with his hen and had a gallipot containing prolyte and water to drink. He didn’t want any more than that. I reflected on is arrival and as he was diving down my eyes were diverted to another pigeon flying high, heading North. I really don’t know whether they were together or whether this other bird had simply come into view at the same time. It did however, make me think that a longer flying fancier may beat me on the over fly as the south east wind was picking up. I then told myself that pigeons just don’t tumble in from Barcelona especially at the speed my bird had registered. Within a few minutes I telephoned the secretary to verify my arrival and was told that no one else had verified. The wait then began to see if other people would have one to beat me. For the next hour or so I thought I would probably be just beaten into 2nd or 3rd place, as I was the previous year but then I thought about the bird and how perfect he was when he was sent off and had decided then that nothing would be in front of him in the UK. Information filtered through and it looked as though we were over 2 hours clear of any other British pigeon and that we would be somewhere between 150th and 200th in the International against almost 28,000 birds, most of which were flying considerably less distance. Of course, it was so very satisfying that the plan to send this bird, which was hatched all most 11 months earlier, and that the preparation that had been totally geared but to getting him right for the job, had all worked out to perfection. It could hardly be any better. Enormous satisfaction.
Nyland Ashley - 2nd BICC Barcelona 2008
Are you a great believer in meticulous planning and preparation for your National Races? I have a character and a mind set that need things in life to be organised and my pigeons have to fall into the same category. Organisation, preparation and meticulous planning are all qualities that my pigeons receive week in week out and not just for the big National races. For example, I have been spending considerable time over the last fortnight with a loft of young cocks that I hope will do something special in August and September in the bigger races.
What personal qualities does a top man bring to his racing aspirations? In my younger days I was a very keep sports man. I was a good cross country runner and could run fast and in the sprint races. I also held the school record for the triple jump. My main sport was football and I played for the Halifax town youth team along with school and other local teams, often being the team captain. My determination to win was an example I set to my team mates and this has carried over into the pigeons. It is never “win at all cost” but do the best you can with what you have - this is my attitude. If I feel that the pigeons I own are not good enough to be competitive I will seek out better stock.
Will you aim to improve on your results if possible? I feel that I now have the nucleus of pigeons to produce a long distance team of birds but need to produce a number of cocks with this potential for my race team. I feel that I need more strength in depth. I would like more birds to choose from so that I may be more competitive at a few more National races. I have a round 60 young birds for the 2009 season and so far I am very pleased with the health, standard and quality of these youngsters. I hope to carry forward 25 or 30 cocks for the 2010 season and this should then improve my chances of building a stronger race team.
I know that you are a mole catcher. Does this bring you close to nature and help in thinking about birds? My mole catching business is a welcome break from the pigeons. I attend to the birds from 7am to 10.30am most days and then from 5pm to 7.30pm. In between I fit in the mole catching job and this gets me away from pigeons, though certain pigeon thoughts always flicker through my mind. I look on the mole catching as a paid welcome diversion. It takes place outside in the fresh air. I am my own boss and I am very successful at it. Better still the widowhood cocks have a period of time to rest without my agitating them.
What personal advice have you for other ambitious fanciers? The best advice that I can give is to strive for healthy pigeons that do not require medicine on a regular basis. I have always been quite ruthless with my birds but tolerating weakness cannot be allowed. Fortunately the best birds are rarely ill and I will not patch sick pigeons. Some fabulous breeders have had to be disposed of when they ceased to produce top quality offspring. I had a real wake up call several years ago. My young bird team was coming down with various minor ailments - one eye cold, soap wattles, rattling etc and the simple answer was overcrowding. These problems came about because I was trying to keep too many y/bs in the same loft. Another important point is that the weak ones have to be removed regardless of breeding or cost. Sensible advice is to obtain pigeons from fanciers who are winning at the distances and the standard at which you want to race. For example, I would look at the results of the 400 mile National races if I wanted to achieve good performances in Nationals around this distance and go to the race leaders. When you have the breeding stock, take 4 or 6 youngsters from them between February and May, educate them well and hope they can turn out to be cocks so that they can be raced on widowhood when they become mature. Pay attention to detail and observe your birds as much as possible. They will tell you little things each day.
Who has inspired or continues to inspire your life in pigeons? I have never really been inspired by other fanciers. Obviously I do admire the achievements gained by several fanciers who perform well on a very regular basis but on my day I can prepare a bird to beat anyone and I think other fanciers should think along the same lines. Do your best to sent your best birds in the best condition and wait and see what they can do. Every one is beatable no one wins them all.
Please outline you’re preparation for Barcelona? Preparation for Barcelona is very involved and I have made a new DVD really going into this in depth. All is revealed. The main point is that the bird was prepared for the race from the 1st of January and preparation ceased when I handed over my basket to the marking committee of the BBC on the 28th June.
Do you aim to establish the Halstead strain? I have bred many good pigeons over the years and will follow my same principles in the hope of continuing to produce race winners. I believe that if I have better quality birds in my stock loft I will breed better quality race birds and by putting my National winners and there very best close relatives to stock should help breed a better quality bird. I hope I will continue to breed birds that are superior to many other fanciers' pigeons, then my birds will be much sought after and the Halstead strain will be established. As always, it all depends on future success, achieving it and maintaining it.
My thanks to John for answering my questions and for the pictures he sent.