Leijtens Cor, "The ‘Janssen Bros.’ of the 21st century. A true ‘phenomenon’ in Speed and Middle Distance in Holland"

We crossed the Dutch border on a sunny Saturday afternoon to look for the ‘success colony’ of Speed and Middle Distance racing in Oostelbeers-Oirschot (located between Tilburg and Eindhoven): the colony of the Leijtens Brothers who are participating in pigeon races under the name of the oldest brother: Cor Leijtens!
The town of Oirschot grew up in 1997, the year when Oostelbeers, Westelbeers and Middelbeers were merged and established 1 big municipality. The three towns formed an independent municipality until 1997 and wrote history in 1959 when the very first female mayor was installed! Oostelbeers, Westelbeers and Middelbeers owe their name to the proximity of two small rivers which were vitally important to agriculture and water supply: the ‘Groote Beerze’ and the ‘Kleine Beerze’. History of these 3 municipalities goes all the way back to the 13th century and has a particularly agrarian nature. Times were often tough; life was far from easy for the farmers in this region. They were forced to work hard because of the poor sandy soils which yielded a light crop in spite of all the labour. The unfavourable location of the towns with respect to the important connection roads played tricks on the inhabitants as well and as a result, all activities were pretty small-scale.

The ‘Janssen Bros.’ of the 21st century
A history that is perfectly applicable to the course of life of the Leijtens family. They practised the hard farmers’ trade as well. In the time of their father, there were 6 dairy cows in the stable... The 4 Leijtens brothers have expanded the activities and at present, they are running an ultramodern dairy farm that produces approximately 535.000 litres on a yearly basis. The 4 brothers still live on the parental farm. When they were young, the brothers wanted to have something to do beside working hard on the farm but leisure activities were pretty rare in this region... that’s how the two oldest brothers, Cor & Har, came in touch with pigeon sport at the age of 16. Pigeons turned into a real hobby. In the meantime, the Leijtens Bros. have grown into ‘national top stars’ of pigeon sport, experts of speed and middle distance racing (until Limoges or 694 km). Their nephews, the sons of their married sister: Roland (17) and Sander (14), have discovered pigeon sport as well and are racing under the name of ‘Van Den Broeck Bros.’... succession seems to be assured!
There is a lot of resemblance between the story of the Leijtens Bros. and the story of the world famous ‘Janssen Bros.’ in Arendonk (Belgium). The Janssen Bros. were 4 brothers as well and they were also living in the parental home... They excelled in speed and middle distance racing with ‘Janssen pigeons’ at the basis (through ‘Klak’)... but the circumstances are different and the list of achievements of the pigeons in Oostelbeers seems to be a little more ‘impressive’. Competition has become a lot ‘tougher’ through the years... as far as we know, the Arendonk fanciers never won ‘National Ace Pigeons’... something the colony of Cor Leijtens however did achieve wonderfully well (more about that later-on). The Leijtens brothers’ vanity is no doubt flattered by this comparison: the ‘Janssen Bros. of the 21st century’!

Origin of the strain
When the two brothers Cor and Har started pigeon racing, they had absolutely nothing... they had the opportunity to keep some pigeons they were taking care of and those birds were their first main pigeons. They had nothing or no-one to fall back on. Experience was the best teacher and hesitantly, they took their first steps in pigeon sport. They continued their journey in the pigeon scene with good ‘common sense’ and logical reflection... they applied the knowledge they had acquired by handling animals day in and day out. Success was bound to happen... In no time, the colony of Cor Leijtens grew to the ‘top’ in speed and middle distance racing in Holland. The ‘big champions’ of pigeon sport noticed these successes as well... step by step, they discovered the road to Oostelbeers, curious about the pigeons of the Leijtens brothers... but they were also eager to know about the method behind these top successes because we could call Cor and Har the pioneers... even the ‘masters’ of playing with hot and cold, light and dark... Not only did they astound their competitors in the early nineties but they also often checkmated them! No wonder many renowned ‘top stars’ of pigeon sport came down to Oostelbeers to attend ‘pigeon class’... no wonder they were eager to know about this ‘common sense’! Just ask a Gerard Koopman...
Meanwhile, the Leijtens brothers understood perfectly that they could not aspire to the ‘top’ with the pigeons they had received. Soon enough, some pigeons of Jos Van Limpt (aka ‘Klak’) from Reusel were moved to Oostelbeers, these were pure ‘Janssen-Arendonk’-pigeons. Some further reinforcements can still be recovered in the origin of the breed: pigeons of Ad Scharlaekens, Flor Engels & Sons, Gerard Koopman, Co Verbree, Gerard & Bas Verkerk etc… Still, Cor & Har are calling Ad Scharlaekens’ name with one voice since he was in essence the man who made them ‘pigeon fancier’ because 2 of their greatest ‘super cracks’ and founders of the present generation of top pigeons, namely… LAMMERT and PENTIUM, are Scharlaekens pigeons for 50%! Give credit where credit is due! They also have 3 direct children of the world famous ‘KLEINE DIRK’ of Gerard Koopman. Some of these ‘top stars’ are staying in the racing lofts at the moment. One thing is for sure: Cor & Har clearly did not take any chances as far as the foundation of their breed is concerned… some ‘common sense’ and ‘logical reflection’ appear to be very useful indeed!

Racing method
At present, the colony of Cor Leijtens consists of 24 breeding couples and 52 racing pigeons...: 30 racing cocks and 22 racing hens. They are nevertheless not practising the method of ‘total widowhood’ which is very popular at the moment. For the time being, they stick to the system of classic widowhood (i.e. with fixed partners): the racing cocks have hens that stay at home and the racing hens leave while their cock stays behind. There is one cock for every two racing hens so jealousy is an important factor! They used to practise early breeding with the racing pigeons, then, they were put on widowhood immediately and were not re-coupled. But the Leijtens brothers have adjusted their system slightly: the pigeons can brood one more time before the racing season starts after which they are put on widowhood. The cocks are locked up in their box and threshed maize is being used to cover the floor... ideal because this material is as dry as a bone and dust-free! The hens are not showed to the cocks before they leave but the racing hens however, have the opportunity to get a good look at their cock for about 20 minutes. In principle, all the pigeons are put into a basket every week.
The cocks train twice a day for one hour, the hens train only once a day for a good hour and a half. As a bonus, the pigeons are taken away by car 2 tot 3 times a week to fly a ‘training race’ of a good 30 km... the cocks are taken to Oud-Turnhout, the ‘racing girls’ to Zoersel. The racing team is really being drilled and has to perform well until the age of 2. The real ‘super pigeons’ however, have to race until the age of 3 after which they can move to a well-earned spot in the breeding loft. According to Cor & Har, this is an advantage that is not to be sneezed at: thanks to this method they have a very young racing team at their disposal as well as a young breeding source.
The brothers touched the right cord there because many Dutch top stars apply this racing method. Just like we you are probably wondering: ‘How do the pigeons keep up with this for an entire year with weekly races as far as roughly Limoges (still 694 km until Oostelbeers)?’ The answer: ‘a high-fat diet’. Upon visiting the racing and breeding lofts of Leijtens, we noticed that the pigeons receive lots of ‘PLUS-mixtures’ of Versele Laga. Start Plus, Champion and Superstar Plus, and Gerry Plus have no secrets for the Leijtens flyers. We also found ‘high-fat’ Energy Plus and a bag of Mariman feed in the passage that runs between the racing lofts. There is a mix of all this on the pigeons’ menu and they receive sufficient quantities of the feed. If one works hard, one needs ‘solid’ food… otherwise, one would not last long. What about supplements? A series of products of Dr Vincent Schröder and Rob Hoekstra. ‘Iron’ in their blood is very important! The birds also receive some vitamins in their feed once a week, two times in one day… the feed is moistened with Vincent Schröder oil. The Leijtens Bros. also follow the medical advice of this doctor which implies: something against head diseases every 2 weeks and the birds receive a Spartrix, a Hoekstra product and a Schröder product in turn against canker. But let us not forget these 3 most important aspects: a good loft, a good fancier and most of all… ‘good pigeons’! The latter are amply present in the Leijtens lofts: their ‘dominant’ game proves this but the series of ‘Ace pigeons’ all the way up to a national level are a good proof thereof as well!