OLR PRO

His victory at the 2010 Emerald Classic International One Loft Race with the beautiful Baby Bear was achieved after an absence from the sport due to working and living in Sydney, Australia. The Kallmeyers have continued to develop their family through intensive performance testing in various one loft races around the globe. This has seen them amass a series of impressive performances year upon year.

Hennie and Anette Kallmeyer

The beginning in South Africa

Hennie's story began in his native South Africa where as a keen, young pigeon fancier in the mid 1990's he followed with interest the South African Million Dollar race. The name of David Clausing (USA) kept on appearing as his birds dominated week after week in the training and hot spot races. Based on the old original Houben family pigeons, they appeared to thrive in the harsh conditions of Sun City. Between the years of 2002 to 2005, the Clausing birds scored 8 times in the first 50 of the final race and this inspired Hennie to collect more birds from this world-class family of pigeons, following his earlier introductions with which he had immediate success.

His love affair with the Clausing birds began in 1998 when Hennie purchased his very first Clausing bird from a Million Dollar auction after the race series was flown. Named Leonda (AU1998CLAUSING0141), this young cock bird would go on to produce a double union winner in its first nest and, when paired with another Clausing Million Dollar bird named Olive Branch, sired a number of top performers and some super breeders; including a cock named Tears. Tears became one half of the South African Magic Pair along with his 'click' hen, Miss Money Penny. This pair is well known in South Africa with winners from their offspring being reported across the width and length of South Africa.

Settling in Malahide, Ireland

Following brief stints living and working in London and Sydney, the Kallmeyers moved to Malahide, a picturesque town near Dublin in Ireland. Between 2009 and 2011, 34 birds made their way to the Emerald Isle directly from Dave Clausing's loft in Nocatee, Florida. They originated from all of the principle Clausing breeders such as #410, Trouble, 1383, Jay, David Jr, #217, Never Say Die and Ziko II. Breeding began in 2010 and success was instant. The small group of youngsters that Hennie and Anette entered into one loft events performed brilliantly with Baby Bear winning the Emerald Classic International One Loft Race and two other important victories were won: the Country Challenge race at the South Africa Million Dollar Race and also having the best Irish pigeon for the series of Hot Spot races. Hennie's continued faith and trust in the Clausing family was justified.

The Kallmeyers continued to test their family in the ensuing years in one loft competitions. They also added to their existing Clausing family and constantly changed their matings to identify the most consistent and best polygamous breeders in order to evolve and improve their breed. By the end of 2014 they had a good understanding of their best lines however lady luck was to deal a cruel blow with Hennie being diagnosed with Pigeon Fancier's Lung disease. Whilst this would limit the amount of time Hennie would be able to spend with his pigeons, in many ways his diagnosis focused Hennie's mind to concentrate on a small core of pigeons that had proven themselves as super breeders or the 'centre cream' of breeders as he refers to them.

A culmination of the above factors has led to the selection of only 11 birds from the group of 34 original Clausing imported pigeons, comprising of 5 cocks and 6 hens for continued breeding purposes plus some of their proven offspring. Another important decision was made in 2014 and that was to introduce a select few key breeders from the German one loft racing champion – Alfons Klaas. In the Kallmeyer's opinion the Clausing and Klaas pigeons are the very best one loft racing bloodlines the world has seen in the past 15 years.

2015 - success across the globe!

This renewed breeding focus and the introduction of the Klaas crossings has resulted in some brilliant one loft performances in 2015. Breeding in 2015 began with a reduced team and pairing was much later in the year, due to family commitments. This resulted in only 5 one loft races being entered and with a reduced number of pigeons being entered into these races. Nevertheless, the team performed with distinction as the results in these 5 races show:

1. French Young Bird Derby 2015 – the Kallmeyers scored regularly in the top 10 of the hot spot races and ended 24th in the final race with a son of Bear (Danny Whammy) which also ended as 13th Overall Ace Pigeon. He was bought back in October 2015 from the auction and has since been re-entered in the Derby Arona Race in Tenerife where training has already commenced for the 2016 race series.
2. Whodareswins O. L. R. - a son of Ziko III was one of the most consistent long distance/ channel birds in this race scoring 35th and 26th Open in the semi-final and final races respectively.
3. Balkanic Fairplay International Race - a son of Baby Blue called Heartbreaker (IPB 2015 B 7864) ended as 2nd Hot Spot Ace Pigeon (only 1 minute behind the winner) with the following performances:

70th open Hot Spot 1 57th open Hot Spot 2 40th open Hot Spot 3 12th Semi Final Race

The team also finished 16th in the gruelling final race with a grandson of Baby Blue.

1. Dracula O. L. R. - a daughter of Ginger Spice won 1st Overall Ace Pigeon and a daughter of MJ (son of Bear) won 3rd Overall Ace Pigeon. The Kallmeyers won an amazing 1st and 3rd Overall Ace pigeon titles from a 3 bird entry team only, as follows:

IPB 2015 B 7866 Aref (1st Overall Ace Pigeon)

109th open Hot Spot 1 2nd open Hot Spot 2 (equal 1st/first drop) 5th open Semi Final Race (equal 1st/first drop) 7th open Final Race (1 of only 7 day birds)

IPB 2015 B 7870 Draco (3rd Overall Ace Pigeon)

133rd open Hot Spot 1 29th open Hot Spot 2 20th open Semi Final Race 11th open Final Race

1. Golden Race Algarve - a son of Baby Blue (Superman Dan) raced superbly in this year's edition of one of the most prestigious international one loft races by finishing as 2nd Irish Ace pigeon and 11th International Ace Pigeon against an original entry of 4,300 pigeons from 27 countries. More importantly Superman Dan was also the best long distance Ace Pigeon (best average over the 3 longest races in the series including Hot Spot 3, semi-final and final races):

IPB 2015 B 7881 Superman Dan

2363rd open Hot Spot 1 153rd open Hot Spot 2 17th open Hot Spot 3 26th open Semi Final (Silver Race – semi-final race) 89th open Final Race (Golden Race – final race)

It seems that pigeon fanciers have taken note of these remarkable performances by the Kallmeyer pigeons as these ace pigeons have smashed auction prices and sold for new record prices at these OLR auctions in excess of an average of €2,500 each!

Top Clausing breeders of the Kallmeyer colony

Bear (AU 2006 CLAUSING 115) was bred by David Clausing of the USA and is a first generation cross of Jay, his foundation Imbrecht breeder and #217, his foundation breeding hen. Bear arrived in Ireland in August 2009 and reared his first babies in January 2010. Within a very short period of time he established himself as a foundation breeder of note. His children have been exported to all corners of the world within 3 years of his arrival in Ireland and winners have been reported down to the third generation already. In 2010 his son Baby Bear won the 2010 Emerald Classic International O. L. R. Three brothers of Baby Bear currently form the main cock line from Bear in Hennie and Anette's loft. These are Luther, Young Bear and MJ. These 3 young cocks have produced numerous top scoring children in various one loft races in recent years. In September 2015 a daughter of MJ named Draco was the 3rd Overall Ace Pigeon in the Dracula One Loft Race Series in Transylvania, Romania. One of the best racing sons of Young Bear was Mr Spice. He was the best Republic of Ireland pigeon in the 2012 Emerald Classic OLR and is now in the Kallmeyer breeding loft. His mother is their top producing daughter of David Jr named Ginger Spice. Another son of Bear and Baby Blue, named Hennie, was gifted to David Clausing. From his first year at stock in the USA he has bred some top performing one loft racing pigeons. His granddaughter was co-winner of the 2015 California Classic One Loft Race winning $18,300+ in prize money in November 2015.

Baby Blue (AU 2004 CLAUSING 64 – old ring, bird is from 2008) is a small little hen who plays a major part in the loft's current breeding strategy. She is the main breeding hen of the loft and clicks with a number of cocks, including Bear. Hennie and Anette try to preserve her genes such is their potency in one loft competition. She is the product of inbreeding, being from a brother x sister mating from the two most famous Clausing birds i.e. # 410 and his Million Dollar winning niece Never Say Die (winner of the Sun City Million Dollar Race 2003). They currently house a number of sons and daughters of Baby Blue in their breeding loft when she was mated to most of the key breeding cocks such as Bear, Dakteels, Sidekick, Mr Spice and her own son, Young Bear.

Mr Spice: top performer in the 2012 Emerald Classic O. L. R. and winner of 13th open in the Final Race.

Ginger Spice is also a key breeding hen of the loft. She is a daughter of Clausing's famous breeder David Jr and granddaughter of the legendary #410. She is the Kallmeyer's most versatile breeding hen having bred consistent O. L. R. prize winners over a 4 year period with 5 different cocks. In September 2015 a top performer was reported down from her son Camouflage with him being the grandfather of 2nd open (equal 1st/first drop) in the 2015 Superstar One Loft Race Final. The same month, her own daughter Aref won 1st Overall Ace Pigeon in the Dracula O. L. R.

An exceptionally strong gene pool

Hennie and Anette Kellmayer are one of the finest exponents of one loft racing in the world today. It is now almost twenty years since Hennie first recognised the potential of the Clausing family and since this time he has honed and developed his own family that win wherever they are sent to compete. With such a strong gene pool to call upon in the future then surely more success will find its way to Malahide.

Author's note - Hennie has kindly asked me to include a special word of thanks to his mentor and good friend David Clausing for all his support, friendship, advice and most importantly world class winning bloodlines.

Irish Racing Route

Sheldon Leonard – Arklow

Over the past few seasons Sheldon has visited all the top lofts in Europe, sourcing nothing but the absolute cream to, as Sheldon states “ Produce the ultimate racing rachine” . Sheldon's present family of birds are basically the old Hofkens and Lou Wouters family, based on stock obtained from his best friend Mr Andre Roodhooft – The Emperor Of Antwerp. In the familly of pigeons that Sheldon now flies he has also introduced the Janssen Brother's direct & via André Roodhooft, the Aelbrecht family and the world famous Freddy & Jacque Vandenheede. Sheldon recently won 1st Irish National Flying Club Barleycove young bird. This year's 1st national winner is a Lou Wouters bird via André Roodhooft & also in the same race the 9th open National winner was a Lou Wouter's x Aelbrecht. In this season's INFC Sennon Cove yearling national, the premier event in Ireland for yearlings, Sheldon finished 2nd open. The 2012 2nd open INFC yearling national winner from Sennencove was Janssen Arendonk x Vandenheede. Also this season Sheldon finished highly in the INFC Penzance Old Bird National, finishing 8th open. The 8th open winner was Roodhooft x Vandenheede. As you can see Sheldon has blended the families well to form a good middle distance family of pigeons. Just in case you think these birds have just shot up, well alas you are wrong for only last season in the INFC old bird national event from Barleycove, Sheldon finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th open from a distance of 178 miles. Sheldon always plans ahead and looking to compete in the distance events has now introduced some Daniel Aerens from Drongen Belgium – As they say “keep watching”

Some of Sheldons results (past 3 seasons only)

Dungarven 12 sent 356 B 1st 2nd 3rd 4th club & 1st 2nd 3rd section B 941 B 78 miles Pilmore beach 16 sent 452 B 1st 3rd 8th club & 1st & 3rd section B 1233 B 95 miles Pilmore beach 11 sent 272 B 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th club & 2nd & 3rd section B 722 B 95 miles Pilmore Beach 13 sent 338 B 3,4,5,6,7,8 club 4,5,6,7,8,9 fed 1631B 95 miles Kinsale 19 sent 401 B 2,3,4,6 club 2,3,4th fed 1931B 124 miles Roscarbery 19 sent 419 birds 1,2,3,6, club & 3rd section B 1287 B 147 miles Castletownbere 20 sent 335B 1,2,3,6 club & 4th 5th 9th 20th fed 1393 B 178 miles Watervile 10 sent 70 B 1st & 3rd club 2nd section B 196 B 179 miles Skibbereen north ( single entry ) 1st club 213 B & 1st section B 809 birds & 2nd fed 1272 b 157 miles Barleycove 13 sent 229 B 1,2,3,4,8,9,10, club 178 miles Castletownbere 12 sent 214B 1,2,3,7,8,9,10 club 178 miles Barleycove 15 sent 257B 1,2,5, club 178 miles Barleycove 12 sent 149B 1,2,3,4,club , 1st 2nd 3rd section B & 3rd 4th 5 th 6th National 1414B 178 miles Kinsale 14 sent 277B 1,2,3,4,5,8,9 club & 7,8,9,10,11 fed 1554b 124 miles Castletownbere 11 sent 107 Birds 1,2,3,4,7,8 club Talbenny ( single entry ) 1st club 4th fed & 24th national - no birdage to hand - 83 miles channel race Skibbereen north 1st 6,7,8,9, club 1st section B & 21st 43rd 44th 45th 46th national 3037 bird's 157 miles Pilmore beach 17 sent 471B 2,3,4,5,6,7 club 3rd section B 1227 B 95 miles Skibbereen north 17 sent 332 B 1st 3rd 10th club 2nd section B 929B 157 miles Barleycove 14 sent 248 B 1st 3rd 4th 6th club 2nd section B 965B 34th 52nd 53rd 59th national 1083b 178 miles Rosscarbery12 sent 187 B 1st & 2nd club 16th 17th fed 1047B Sennencove I.N.F.C. yearling national 2nd national 4319 birds 188 miles 1st federation & 1st section . Sennencove 2nd 4th 8th club 9th 20th 38th national old bird N.F.C. Dungarven 15 sent 489 birds 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,club 4,5,6,7,8,9,11,14, 16,18, federation 1628B 75 miles Kinsale 19 sent 477B 1st & 6th club 2nd section B 1168 birds 124 miles Barleycove 14 sent 292B 1st,5,7,8,9 club 1st section B 656 birds 1st federation 1055B & 1st & 9th INFC young bird national

Billy Harris - Dublin

P & J Boal - Dromore

Hennie & Annette Kallmeyer - Dublin

Open Co-winner (1. Ireland/UK / 13. Open) 2012 Fauna Orheiului OLR(Moldova) HS1 against an original entry of 475+ birds Open Co-winner (1. Ireland/UK / 15. Open) 2012 Fauna Orheiului OLR (Moldova) HS2 against an original entry of 475+ birds Open Co-winner (2 + 3. Ireland/UK / 6. + 11.) Open 2012 Fauna Orheiului OLR (Moldova) HS3 against an original entry of 475+ birds Open Co-winner (1. Ireland / 1. Open) 2012 North Coast Classic OLR (UK) HS2 against an original entry of 733 birds Open Co-winner (1 Ireland / 2nd Open) 2012 Emerald Classic OLR (UK) HS1 against and original entry of 658 birds Open Co-winner (1 Ireland / 4th Open) 2012 Emerald Classic OLR (UK) HS2 against and original entry of 658 birds 1st UK and Ireland and 20th Open in the 2012 Balcanic Fairplay OLR, Romania (original entry of 950+ pigeons).

Hennie and Anette only compete in one loft races around the world and do not race a home team' as only stock pigeons are kept. Only small teams are sent to one loft races which are bred from a stock team that consists of 9 old cocks and 3 yearlings. Around 20 hens are kept which are rotated on different cocks to find the best matings. From the start in 2010 the kingpin of the loft has been AU 2006 Clausing 115 or the famous Bear'. This potent cock breeds winners with different hens and is used in the early winter and late summer months as a polygamous stallion breeder. His children win with great consistency but 2011 and 2012 has shown that 80% of his children that were put to stock have bred winners already in their first year. Hennie and Annette are particularly excited over their new 2012 breeding sensation MJ – a son of Bear and Baby Blue – i.e. brother to Baby Bear, as all of his children bred with 2 different hens have already won hot spot races in July and August of 2012. Certainly this yearling cock has a great future ahead of him and will certainly be the successor of Bear to ensure Bear's winning genes are passed onto future generations.

Billy Cullimore - Wexford