| Author: Bob Rowland | Title: Identifying Performance - Part 2 |
| Date: 2005-01-02 21:32:48 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
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I have received many comments back from people after they read the
initial article about identifying performance. The biggest thing people
seem to think I have said is that I am selecting pigeons based on a
one-race performance. This is totally off the track.
Many people have commented that they would rather have a consistent
pigeon rather than a pigeon that comes up high on the results. The
problem with this is to identify what we mean by a "Consistent pigeon".
In most cases it is a pigeon that is never really too late but generally
not early enough to win anything for you. Here is where we determine if
we have racing pigeons or homing pigeons.
It is my feeling that if you are willing to accept pigeons that have
never won anything, then your loft will probably be late most of the
time and never win much of anything. We can make all the excuses in the
world for why we are late but until we work on fixing the problem, we
will continue the way we have been going.
I agree that we must have consistent pigeons but they must also be
consistently close to the top of the results. After a few years of
better results, it gets easier to be near the top. This is simply
because we stop accepting excuses and look at our self in the mirror and
know where the problem is.
Regardless of what you may have as a personal problem, there are no
columns on the result sheet for this. For those that consistently have
an excuse, perhaps we can come up with a list that would have the
problems by the numbers and then we could add a column for the number to
be on the report. However, how many times can you have the hawk attack
or the dog jumping up or the kids throwing a ball? These reasons for
being low on the sheet make us look completely inadequate as to why we
did not do better.
I once told some people that a pigeon that never came first to my loft
really does not serve a purpose and could be eliminated. This comment
had them all telling me what a wonderful pigeon they have that never
came first so I asked them how many races that pigeon had ever won?
Remember, this pigeon has never homed to the loft first so how could it
be a winner. Furthermore, if it is always beaten by a loft mate, what
contribution did it really give to our loft? I will say that if the
pigeon is just off the pace by a few seconds or so, it could be a
reasonable pool bird. Are you willing to take the chance that this
pigeon will win a reasonable pool?
The color system I use has helped me to not only identify my best racers
but it also helps me to identify which pigeons are breeding me good
racers. BY pairing the birds differently each year, you can also spot
which pigeon only breeds good racers if they are mated to a better
producer than they are. If that parent is not of sufficient quality to
produce racers of a certain level, then why do we insist on keeping them
around?
I am as guilty as the next person in thinking that sooner or later,
something will click from a certain pigeon but the reason for this is
that we like the producer and give them many more chances than they
really need. I have found my best producers show their self almost
immediately. So why do we keep something around until it is a pensioner
rather than moving it out after a given time? We need to establish some
standards and hold true to them or our success will not be what it could be.
SO let's go back and conclude that if the birds are really very good and
yet they produce nothing worthy, then what is the problem? Is it the
loft or the race course or the person that is in charge? If the loft has
won in the past, then the loft is probably sufficient and if you have
won on this same course, nothing has changed here so go out and get a
new mirror so your vision is not blurred.
Hope this helps and I can tell you that I have made a personal
commitment to remove those pigeons that should breed super stars for me
and haven't,,,,,,, so hopefully, my results will continue to improve.
Regardless of your level of competition, unless you are winning every
race, there is room for improvement and if you are winning every race,
there is definitely room for your club mates to improve.
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