JO & RAF HERBOTS "THE FLUP AS THE NEW SUPERCRACK"!

Halle-Booienhoven - The pigeon racers who make the front page of our newspaper every week are certainly not the least. Sometimes they are small fanciers with great performances, other times it is a big fancier or a professional who brilliantly outclasses his competitors. The loyal readers of our newspaper know that a nice and original story is attached to all these champions every week.

At least, this is the least one can expect from it. Because admittedly, this is not always easy, especially if it concerns someone or a loft about which everything has already been written. The chances are quite high that the reader, even before he has read the title, decides not to read any further because he thinks he already knows what will be written. Today's report belongs to that category, but hopefully the opposite is true and the reader will still fancy some interesting facts.

A good reason
The reason for our visit is that Herbots has a phenomenally talented pigeon. By this we mean 'De Flup', who in the month of July last year achieved an unprecedented series of performances. On four flights from Limoges to Libourne, he flew in the top 9 of the country on each occasion. A good reason to take a closer look at this superb bird. Hence this report, bearing in mind our intention not to delve into the history of the Herbots family. We will confine ourselves to the past season, we will not go into detail about the commercial business they have built up, nor will we write anything about what they have achieved during their career. From this point of view, here is the summary of the best results of 2023 and the main elements that contributed to them. After all, the results of the past year deserve to be put in the spotlight, and in particular the achievements of some important top birds, which we would like to highlight here.

Geoffrey 
Before we introduce some of the established top pigeons, let's start with one of the key figures in the current success story. It must have been in late 2013 that Jo and Raf were looking for a new loft manager. Actually a not so simple task, a full-time job as a loft manager, everyone is not cut out for it. Jo and Raf had already spoken to many acquaintances about this, until some of the befriended fanciers at the Kassel fair referred them to Geoffrey Janssens from Baal (Tremelo). According to insiders, Geoffrey was the right man they were looking for. After all, having been 1st Nat. champion KBDB youth himself in 2009 at the age of 17, he had already shown that he had a talent for the pigeon business. After a short conversation with the Herbots brothers, he did not have to think long about it and became 'THE' loft manager from then on. It turned out to be a hit for the Herbots family, which was only confirmed in the following years. Geoffrey of course had his personal approach and his own ideas about certain things, but it clicked and his insights were well received by Jo and Raf. During the first years, he still commuted between Baal and Halle-Booienhoven, but in the meantime he has settled down completely and Geoffrey has lived in his own home within walking distance of the lofts for several years now.

Raf, loft manager Geoffrey, Miet and Jo. The passing of father Filip (30-11-’22) was a difficult period for the family, but on the sportive level, it didn't take long until they could rename a real superb bird to "De Flup", named after Filip of course!

“De Flup”
The checkered cock, B21-2130124, was nicknamed "De Flup" and proved to have the very best genes in his body and head over the last year. Even without knowing his performances, you don't have to have much pigeon knowledge to determine that is a perfectly built athlete. When taken in hand, there really is nothing to criticise about this strong-bodied pigeon and when his results are highlighted, one can only conclude that this is an exceptional quality champion. He was bred from two racers, the father was a mediocre racer according to Jo and was given away to a young fancier even before De Flup achieved his brilliant results. But not unimportant here, is the fathers grandmother who descends from the Kenzo branch, a bloodline that is still well represented in the breeding stable.
De Flup's mother came from Eddy and Maarten Leutenez and was raced on Jo and Raf Herbots' loft, after which she entered Leutenez' sales program. Meanwhile, "De Flup" himself has already been allowed to produce some offspring and who knows, maybe a top breeder has been discovered with him. Jo is the first to admit that De Flup's remarkable performances were achieved in less difficult racing weather. Such a run in consecutive flights at low speeds would have been impossible. However, the flying conditions were the same for all pigeons every week and although it was less difficult, his list of achievements does not diminish. Indeed, experience tells us that this kind of heroics can only be accomplished by super talented athletes.

Bachelor
Bachelor, B21-2130289, or the fastest of 21,070b. national from Châteauroux '21, has meanwhile also found its permanent place in the breeding boxes. His pedigree has been revealed here before and it remains somewhat of a coincidence how he ended up in Herbots' loft. The original owner, Fernand Schroyen-Henderix had planned his pigeon sale long beforehand. But then Covid threw a spanner in the works and there was no sale. Yet Fernand insisted on selling his pigeons, especially because he had new plans with other pigeons. So it happened that Fernand's birds were bought by Jo Herbots himself, who immediately bred youngsters from them. So one of them is Bachelor, sired by B09-5041729, alias 'Pokkeman', and the mother was B16-2178654, named 'Diva Belgica'.

Supreme 
The third showpiece we would like to introduce is 'Supreme', B16-3031667, a phenomenal racing and breeding pigeon, originating from Godfried Vander Stichele (Pittem). The father of Supreme, with ring nr. B10-3002007, named 'James Bond', flew 8 x top 100 national himself. The mother, B11-4289999, is a combination of a cock ('Magic Gonzales') of Dirk Speybroeck (Vinkt) coupled with a top hen of Cools-Blancke (Ruiselede). 
'Supreme' itself flew among others the 1st Nat. Tulle '19 of 6206b. and the 2nd Nat. Argenton '18 of 11,838b. In 2020, his nest contained a pair of cocks which immediately proved that they inherited the super genes. The B20-2133329, which was named 'Supreme Souillac', won the 2nd Nat. Souillac (4571b.) and in 2023 the 3rd Nat. Souillac (4827b.). His nest brother the 328-20, flew less succesful on national level but flew several times top on the small middle distance with in between the 88/5342b. Nat. at Aurillac. There is also a daughter of the 'Supreme', the B222124327, called 'Suprema', a fine hen who won several prizes, including 1/852b. and 52/15,210b. Nat. Argenton, 37/6085b. Nat. Souillac and 105/7813b. Nat. Tulle.

Highlights 2023

1 Best old pigeon Belgium Long distance (4 races)
1 Prov. Ace pigeon old Long distance KBDB
2 Prov. Ace pigeon Extreme Long distance & long distance yrl. KBDB
2 Prov. Champion Extreme Long distance & Long distance yrl. KBDB
3 Nat. Ace pigeon Long distance old birds KBDB
4 Olympic pigeon old birds Maastricht 2024
19 Nat. Ace pigeon small middle distance yrl. KBDB
1e Prov. Narbonne 581 old birds

Geoffrey and Jo with central "De Flup"

Racing System
Geoffrey: "Some 30 old and plus minus 90 yearling pigeons on total widowhood are competing in the races. More than half of these are hens that stay in a pen during the day. At night, they are allowed in the resting loft where they have a place on the perches. In the beginning, when the first training sessions take place, the female birds are guided a little with a flag. However, after about four times they fly by themselves and during the season this is easily twice a day for an hour. When the trap board is laid open, they come down and storm in." Every year 250 youngsters are weaned, the vast majority bred from top pigeons in the breeding boxes, but some eggs are also displaced from certain racers. 

Jo: "All the youngsters must have raced at least one national race in their year of birth, as it has proved that this experience is indispensable in their further racing career." Of course the pigeons are ridden, but to a lesser extent than before. As for the old and yearlings, this is once a week, until they are in the program on races above 200km. For the youngsters, we try to keep them sharp with one patch flight a week.

Three-piece feeder
A luminous idea of Geoffrey's are the feeding troughs divided into three compartments. The racers are always given three mixtures, being 'sport', 'breeding' and 'high-fat'. When other fanciers tend to mix these together, Geoffrey divides the three types each separately in the feeder. This way, he can easily track what they prefer to eat and what they are most likely to need. The mixture that runs out fastest is fed first. With the hens, this approach is a little different, they don't need as much, as they recover faster and always get light food on the first day of the week.

Medical
It makes sense that medical supervision is entirely in Raf's hands. The old racers are vaccinated against paratyphus both before and after the season and against paramixo in between. The resistance of the youngsters is brought up to scratch with a vaccination against paramixo-rota, paramixo-herpes and paratyphoid. In between, they are vaccinated against smallpox with the brush. 

Jo: "An important part of the racing season remains recuperation, the pigeons must be back in condition quickly after an effort. Among other things, 'Herbosol' and 'Super Flight' are indispensable products for this. Once every fortnight, a few pigeons are examined by Raf and only when something is wrong intervention will take place."

Concluding
With Maarten, Jo's son, the fourth generation of Herbots is already in the starting blocks. So Jo, Raf and Miet should not worry about the future of this story. They can rest assured that their pigeon business will stay in the family and that this will keep father Filip's wish alive. As far as the size of the footprint of their colony is concerned, they can also look to the future with hope, as the quality with which the breeding stable is blessed will continue to guarantee beautiful and brilliant performances. To conclude, we would like to once again congratulate the Herbots team on the past season. Congratulations and until the next one!
JOL

29 x top 50 Nationaal

3 Souillac (711 km) 4.827 old
7 Narbonne (867 km) 5.000 old
7 Souillac (711 km) 4.827 old
8 Aurillac (685 km) 6.512 Yrl.
9 Limoges (652 km) 7.211 old
9 Aurillac (685 km) 5.342 old
9 Libourne (784 km) 3.880 old
10 Souillac (711 km) 4.827 old
13 Limoges (652 km) 7.211 old
18 Aurillac (685 km) 6.512 Yrl.
19 Bourges (454 km) 19.369 yg.
21 Tulle (635 km) 7.813 Yrl.
22 Tulle (635 km) 7.813 Yrl.
22 Aurillac (685 km) 6.512 Yrl.
24 Aurillac (685 km) 5.342 old
26 Souillac (711 km) 4.827 old
30 Limoges (652 km) 8.970 Yrl.
35 Tulle (635 km) 4.982 old
36 Limoges (652 km) 8.970 Yrl.
36 Limoges (652 km) 7.211 old
36 Tulle (635 km) 4.982 old
36 Souillac (711 km) 6.085 Yrl.
37 Souillac (711 km) 6.085 Yrl.
42 Souillac (711 km) 6.085 Yrl.
44 Souillac (711 km) 6.085 Yrl.
44 Souillac (711 km) 4.827 old
45 Argenton (534 km) 11.295 old
46 Aurillac (685 km) 5.342 old
49 Limoges (652 km) 8.970 Yrl.