Alex van Zomeren (Tiel) wins in Section 7!

Alex van Zomeren's NL22-8307999 was the fastest of 4,015 pigeons in Section 7 at Niergnies. This cock was no stranger to success. He had already won from Melun 1/470 and achieved good results at Morlincourt-Noyon 5/2463, Melun 10/1450 and Pont St. Max. 37/10167. His sire is Mr Yvette 189 from Ruud Bakker, and his paternal grandparents are Brother Yvette and daughter Valitas. So he comes from the best lines of Ruud Bakker. His dam Light Abakka was bred from Bakker 613 (Ruud Bakker) x a granddaughter of the world-famous Cannibal and Little Dirk (Premier Stud).

Let us introduce you

Alex's grandfather always had pigeons, and since the age of eight, Alex faithfully helped him with their care. After his grandfather's death in 1995, Alex temporarily stopped pigeon racing. It was not until 2000 that he picked up where he left off.

Since then, he has been up at 6 o'clock every morning to release his pigeons for their daily training. His good friend Cor Hak takes care of cleaning the lofts, as Alex is no longer able to do so himself due to back problems.

His yard has modern pigeon lofts with a total of eight sections: two for the widowers, two for the widows and four for the young birds (summer and late youngsters). Alex has 22 cocks and 22 hens for the races, which are raced on total widowhood. He breeds about 100 young birds every year.

Breeding and breeds

Alex has 28 breeding pairs, which usually raise four, and sometimes even five rounds of young. The racing pairs usually raise two young birds. His pigeon stock consists of breeds from Cor de Heijde, A.P. Overwater, the Borgmans brothers, Koen Van Roy, the Van Wanrooij combination, Maurice van der Kruk, Wout Spierings, the Scheele brothers and Ruud Bakker, among others.

Alex competes with his pigeons in all disciplines, with the exception of overnight flights and ZLU races. The breeding pairs are mated as soon as they are ready, usually in December. In 2024, that moment fell on 15 December, coincidentally with a full moon. The racing pigeons are mated at the beginning of February, so that the eggs from the second round of breeders can be placed under them.

Playing system

The old racing pigeons are darkened until three weeks before the first one-day long distance race. Before basketing, the cocks and hens are not shown to each other; they go into the basket as calmly as possible. Only for the last one-day long distance race is there a deviation from this: then they are allowed to see each other in the morning and are given free rein. After returning home, the pigeons are separated again on the same day. Unless it was a difficult race, in which case the sexes are separated on Sunday morning. 

Feeding

Alex relies on Versele-Laga mixes, based on I.C.+ Champions Black. To make the feed a little lighter at the beginning of the week, he adds Gerry Plus and Paddy to the Champions. Towards the end of the week, he switches to Sublime, Energy and by-products such as P40, Tovo, candy seeds, peanuts and hemp.

When it comes to by-products, Alex resolutely opts for natural support. He uses oregano oil, Probac 1000, brewer's yeast, Bio Lucetol, Sedochol and Wonder Pigeon. As a staunch supporter of natural products, he strives to keep his pigeons healthy in a natural way. For five years now, no medication has been administered — not even against trichomonas. After returning home from a race, the pigeons are given Belgasol in their drinking water.

Alex, congratulations on this victory from the Herbots team!

Christophe Mathues