Racing around the world.

[Diamond Dave]

I struggle to keep my own small loft of birds in a healthy condition - god only knows what it must be like with so many birds.

[Murray]

I think in principle that OLRs are a good idea, especially for those fanciers who wouldn't otherwise be able to race at all, having said that there have been some real horror stories since they started up and some have clearly been very badly organised and run. I don't know if there is any kind of governing body overseeing these set ups from an animal welfare perspective, but if not there probably should be !! Unfortunately, as with most things in life, it's pure greed that will let these organisations down.
As far as losses go it does sound absolutely frightening just how many birds do go down, especially from training, but in reality do we really know how these numbers compare to the amount of birds lost every year by us all as individuals from our own set ups !! I bet if you added all those figures up it would make frightening reading too.

Very well put, Trev.
The 'horror stories' about one loft races are because some of the races are set up by people who think it's a great idea, but have no idea what they are doing. Then people whose pigeons are, being honest, simply nowhere near good enough pay the entry fees and then get all upset and angry when the birds fail.
And so it becomes a common belief that one loft races are a disaster waiting to happen. They aren't. They are like anything. You get back what you put into them.
When I first looked at going in the OLR this year the advice I was given was to send the best youngsters off the best breeders you have. There's a lot of money up for grabs and people with the latest bestest pigeons are sending youngsters.
Fortunately we have some latest bestest pigeons in the shed.

[Murray]

And for the races to work they need to be managed by someone who can understand the logistics of training over a thousand young birds. Not very many can.
If some one was to suggest that I might manage a one loft race, they would be very mistaken. I've never had anywhere near 100 pigeons in my loft at one time. In total.
I've a few years of experience and won a couple of races. But my mind set and attitude would be no good at all. It takes someone who formulates a plan for the entire race program, feeding, training, health, and sticks to it every day.
Add a loft full of high quality youngsters, et voila, lots of happy people

[Devo1956]

A very nice bird, it looks very nice in the hand.

https://youtube.com/shorts/7XwDMpWosYg? ... 2qQWSYlEML

[Murray]

From that video I think the man is looking to sell the pigeon to China.

[Devo1956]

From that video I think the man is looking to sell the pigeon to China.

No doubt Murray, Like all the other ones. on flight now.

[Devo1956]

Swap and sell in the USA, some different Pigeons I have never heard of. don't forget prices are in dollars. 1 pound is 1.35 dollars.

https://youtu.be/9x-rHzy-ae4?si=USlwFU--1ENfoE30

[Murray]

Further to the One Loft Races, the Meadow race in Melbourne had their second trainer yesterday from 12 miles.

The first 184 pigeons were timed in 30 seconds.
The first 260 in 60 seconds.
The first 500 in 2 minutes.
Our first one was 508th, in 2 minutes and 1 second.
The first 1000 were over the pads in 3:42.
There were 1444 pigeons timed, some were a bit slower but overall a very good result.

Goes to show that you can have confidence in a properly run OLR.

[Trev]

Further to the One Loft Races, the Meadow race in Melbourne had their second trainer yesterday from 12 miles.

The first 184 pigeons were timed in 30 seconds.
The first 260 in 60 seconds.
The first 500 in 2 minutes.
Our first one was 508th, in 2 minutes and 1 second.
The first 1000 were over the pads in 3:42.
There were 1444 pigeons timed, some were a bit slower but overall a very good result.

Goes to show that you can have confidence in a properly run OLR.

Thats very good to see, so your bird could just as easily have been 108th really !!
With some of the dodgy OLRs that there have been, it's good to see so many birds turn up so close together, let's hope it continues.
How many birds started off in this one mate, and how many went to this particular trainer ??

[Murray]

The entries closed with 206 flyers sending 1633 pigeons.
I see that 1447 pigeons were timed from that trainer, so about 180 are missing, injured or aren't there for some reason. About 10% of the pigeons originally entered. That's probably about what you'd expect to lose from a big number of pigeons from all over the place.
Any loft that lost 10% of the young birds would probably think they were doing okay.