Starting pigeon sport
On a sunny autumn day, I visited Jos Vanbrabant and Lutgarde Dams in Heusden-Zolder, a friendly couple who have been excelling in sprint racing, especially with young pigeons, for years.
Jos got into pigeon sport in 1970 through an uncle from Zolder, who also raced sprints and small middle distances up to Orléans... this is how Jos took his first steps in this winged sport. The pigeon virus took hold, and Jos has never stopped...
Having always worked in a mill, Jos also worked on weekends and therefore only focused on sprint racing due to the combination with work. Jos has now been retired for a few years and wants to try further flights starting next year, specifically races up to 500 km.
For example, Jos had knee surgery last year and is grateful that his wife Lutgarde was able to assist him with the work; otherwise, it would have been difficult to race pigeons last season.
In the photo, you see ..."Son of Special One," he is the father of the 3rd National Ace Pigeon Sprint 2021.
Line breeding
The founding male of the loft is a doffer from François Custers (Koersel), and the founding female is from Robby Wilms (then playing alone, now Vermeerbergen-Wilms). Practically the entire loft is built from this pair with many descendants.
There is also a good pigeon from Lucien Vandebroek (Zolder), which gives good breeding results; this is a brother of Lucien's provincial Orléans winner.
They have also had good results with pigeons from Robert Bielen in Heusden-Zolder.
This is for their favorite game in sprints, even up to Soissons with the young pigeons.
For future work, Jos has strengthened his team with a few pigeons from Maarten Poels (Berbroek), Louis Beutels (pigeons from Brugmans Sabrina and Antoon Neven here), and a doffer from Ludo Engelen (Kuringen). It remains to be seen what these will show in future work, crossed with his own kind of pigeons.
In Heusden-Zolder, they have a simple loft setup, showing that good pigeons don’t need much luxury...
Young pigeon racing
Last year, about 160 young pigeons were bred (more than usual). These are transported at once for 5 or 6 times to Tielt-Winge (40 km) and then they go with the basket to Mettet. From the moment they go with the basket, there are many fewer losses, according to Jos. Of course, he also loses "his part" of the pigeons during training.
Only doffers were raced on widowhood; females were not raced. For next year, Jos wants to race "on the sliding door" to Orléans with doffers and females.
Before the flight, the doffers see the hen for about an hour. After the race, they see her for several hours to half a day; no fixed partners.
Normally, darkness is used, but this year it was somewhat less due to circumstances. In Heusden-Zolder, they have about 25 breeding pairs to supplement their stock.
Feeding and products
Beyers Light is given, a lot of work is done with tea and garlic, and here and there a Röhnfried addition; it's not much... not too much fuss at the Vanbrabant household.
"For the sprint, not much is needed," says Jos. The approach will naturally be different for further flights.
Aside from paramyxovirus and rota vaccination, nothing more is done; the veterinarian for Vanbrabant-Dams is Karlo Van Rompaey.
No treatments or vaccinations against paratyphoid have ever been done.
Selection and references
They are strict in selection in Heusden-Zolder, evaluating by tens and a few prize-winning pigeons. Otherwise, Jos won’t take these winged athletes into the next year.
For example, there is the 1st provincial Sourdun of Marc Vanonckelen (Halen), and on the mother’s side, we also find the lineage of Vanbrabant-Dams here.
Also, at Van Kerckvoorde Wim and Jeffrey (Wachtebeke), the Vanbrabant pigeons perform well; this tandem frequently strengthens itself with pigeons from the Heusden sprint racer.
Patrick Welkenhuyzen (Koersel) also does well with descendants of Vanbrabant-Dams; it’s always nice when people nearby also succeed with your pigeons.
Results of recent years with young pigeons
What is certainly very remarkable... the VANBRABANT-DAMS loft ranked often in recent years among the national ace pigeons KBDB, including 3rd, 4th, 7th, 15th, and 18th National Ace Pigeon KDDB... this is indeed a beautiful record !!
Results from 2020
momignies, 5, 9, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 29, 51, 62, 76, 93, 104, 15/18
mettet, 1, 5, 7, 21, 40, 50, 53, 57, 95, 124, 10/11
momignies, 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 15, 40, 59, 69, 70, 71, 91, 139, 143, 14/14
momignies, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 20, 30, 39, 46, 63, 79, 105, 11/11
momignies, 1, 3, 5, 6, 24, 27, 29, 31, 39, 62, 11/11
momignies, 2, 70, 2/2
momignies, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 13, 14, 15, 25, 41, 82, 89, 97, 99, 103, 104, 16/16
momignies, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15, 22, 23, 28, 37, 45, 50, 51, 73, 76, 87, 117, 19/24
soissons, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 12, 21, 27, 28, 31, 51, 57, 61, 91, 101, 110, 115, 117, 18/23
soissons, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 23, 28, 30, 31, 42, 47, 63, 64, 76, 18/22
soissons, 2, 3, 13, 17, 18, 34, 43, 52, 55, 66, 76, 89, 13/16
momignies, 2, 3, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 22, 26, 29, 30, 34, 56, 13/13
soissons, 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 15, 16, 18, 43, 9/9
Results from 2021
mettet, 1, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 26, 28, 29, 30, 36, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 47, 49, 66, 72, 21/25
soissons, 2, 73, 2/4
momignies, 2, 6, 9, 10, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 29, 32, 37, 37, 43, 92, 93, 15/20
momignies, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 16, 18, 32, 35, 46, 10/17
mettet, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 19, 20, 21, 25, 40, 44, 46, 48, 49, 58, 74, 17/20
mettet, 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 22, 44, 56, 12/15
momignies, 1, 8, 10, 16, 19, 27,
mettet, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19, 22, 26, 30, 32, 35, 49, 15/19
vervins, 1, 2, 3, 10, 12, 23, 37, 44, 49, 55, 11/15
mettet, 1, 5, 6, 10, 17, 32, 34, 7/10
soissons, 2, 6, 2/2
momignies, 1, 7, 21, 33, 4/4
momignies, 6, 11, 2/2
Results from 2022
mettet, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 24, 27, 29, 31, 40, 43, 44, 19/24
momignies, 3, 12, 13, 25, 35, 38, 39, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 75, 95, 101, 102, 118, 18/22
momignies, 1, 3, 4, 16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 36, 38, 40, 55, 101, 121, 140, 16/22
soissons, 3, 38, 2/2
mettet, 1, 8, 19, 32, 34, 34, 36, 43, 45, 52, 57, 70, 75, 13/17
momignies, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 19, 21, 25, 36, 42, 52, 56, 59, 70, 71, 83, 131, 18/20
momignies, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 15, 16, 17, 23, 32, 32, 49, 67, 70, 71, 80, 85, 121,
momignies, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 15, 45, 48, 62, 67, 68, 87, 132, 18/19
soissons 2, 4, 2/2
mettet, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 19, 22, 27, 29, 34, 55, 73, 77, 18/18
west, 2025d, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 18, 22, 29, 30, 40, 50, 143, 153, 166, 222, 458, 16/18
sourdun, 1, 57, 2/2
momignies, 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 16, 23, 30, 32, 44, 46, 52, 109, 15/15
Results from 2024
vervins, 1, 3, 4, 11, 51, 55, 67, 76, 78, 9/10
soissons, 4, 23, 24, 3/3
mettet, 1, 3, 5, 7, 35, 48, 61, 69, 74, 9/11
mettet, 1, 8, 9, 27, 28, 34, 45, 57, 58, 64, 67, 73, 74, 13/13
chimay, 2, 3, 9, 14, 23, 29, 33, 71, 74, 105, 10/10
chimay, 4, 5, 9, 31, 79, 112, 6/10
mettet, 2, 5, 4, 24, 27, 5/5
As you can see in this list, there are many prize winnings with consistently high prize percentages.
Another top pigeon that will be for sale is
5073037/2023... best young pigeon of 2023
27/5/23 Momignies 6th/204 pigeons, 133 km,
3/6/23 Momignies 3rd/190
10/6/23 Vervins 9th/173 162 km
21/6/23 Mettet 3rd/299 89 km
25/6/23 Mettet 1st/166
8/7/23 Momignies 3rd/212
12/7/23 Mettet 33rd/248
15/7/23 Vervins 66th/213
22/7/23 Soissons 14th/209 220 km
30/7/23 Mettet 6th/2063
5/8/23 Momignies 2nd/1614
9/8/23 Mettet 2nd/374
19/8/23 Vervins 37th/179
26/8/23 Soissons 41st/1526
This pigeon flies 14/14 and 11 times in tens!! (Some descendants from this top performer have also moved directly to the breeding loft).
Photo of this top performer, see below (037/23):
The lineage of this excellent yearling: both on the father's and mother's side, we find here the 2015009/14 (Special One). The "Special One" was 4th National Ace Pigeon 2014.
"The Special One" descends from doffer -480/11 of François Custers (Koersel) x -740/13 (Polmans Ludo/Geukens Rene).
A grandson of this "Special One" was also 3rd National Ace Pigeon 2021, so it clearly runs in the genes.
Many of these coveted descendants will now be auctioned on PITTS from November 4 to November 11.
Be sure to check out this auction, a loft that has been leading in pure sprint racing to small middle distance for years.
Jos and Lutgarde, I would like to thank you on behalf of Pitts for your hospitality and delightful conversation about sprint racing and small middle distance, which you have pursued for years with great passion and determination and achieved remarkable results.
Geco/PItts