For those who don't know Appelterre lies in the shadow of the better known Ninove and that's where we had to be to admire the national winner of Brive yearlings. Nadine Wauters was also in the spotlight last year because their "Miss La Souterraine" won the 2nd national La Souterraine against 14,215 young birds. At that time they just missed the national victory but this time it was "bingo". Piquant detail, the national winner Brive is a full brother of "Miss La Souterraine". Talk about a top breeding pair. 

Brive was anything but an easy race. With rising temperatures and wind on the nose, it was a very hard race and that is fully reflected in the average speed of the winners. The "B21-4185242" won against 5,885 yearlings at 1095.22 m/m and beat the pigeons of Team Platteeuw (Rumbeke - 1084.17 m/m) and Wilfried Vandemaele (Heule - 1083.43 m/m). 

Real animal lovers

The Wauters family love animals...that much is obvious when you enter their home. A bullfinch is sitting in its typical cage on the kitchen table whistling its song, while a grey redstart looked at me in a slightly threatening way. Not to mention a large dog that Nadine's husband says is a puppy, the numerous songbirds outside in the aviary and the chickens under the pigeon loft. Besides all this, they also have a beautiful loft installation because pigeon racing is in their veins. Not only Nadine and her husband, but also the children and even grandchildren are "pigeon crazy". 

"We play from Noyon to Barcelona" they start their story "it must be really bad if we don't basket for a certain race. In spite of the extensive programme, we only have a limited racing team, namely 14 yearlings and 20 old pigeons which are played on classic widowhood (partner stays at home). This team is reinforced by some 200 youngsters. 

The pigeon food of Matador is on the menu. In the beginning of the week this is "Premium Start" and "Premium Athletic" and they are raised with "Turbo Extreme". In addition, the pigeons are spoiled with peanuts and in terms of supplementary products, they favor the Tollisan products of veterinarian Schroeder. The medical supervision is done by Bjorn Geeroms and André Eeman.

"Pappa’s Vriend” (Daddy’s Friend)

This is the name of the national Brive winner. "Papa's Vriend" is as mentioned earlier a full brother to "Miss La Souterraine" and stems from the pairing "Maistro 2" (B18-4134728) x "Godelieve" (B18-2004866). So we see in the father of "Papa's friend" the "Goeden Blauwen", the stock pigeon of the late Elie Wauters. He was crossed against the variety of Willy Francois and Robert Braem. The mother of this national winner was bought as a coupon at Geeraerts-Heymans. She has in her genes the noble blood of Gaston Van De Wouwer and Marcel Aelbrecht. 

"Papa's Vriend" is a beautifully built pigeon, medium type, firm back and well closed coccyx. See the accompanying photos 

Nadine, congratulations again from the whole Herbots team with your first national victory

B21-4185242
1st National Brive 5,885 yearbirds

Distance: 657km

Velocity: 1095 m/m

Pedigree

The Lofts

Stefan Mertens