Peter, his daughter Gwen and his father Arie in front of their basic infrastructure.
A dream!
Season after season fanciers are aiming to take a first prize in the most important races, and to achieve excellent overall results. Others hope to discover some exceptional breeding pigeons or to claim a national or provincial victory. However, only a few of them will actually reach their goals over the course of the season. Well, our host of today has actually managed to make his dreams come true in our sport.
Peter Van De Merwe has achieved many goals throughout his career; he started winning prizes in his very first season back in 1987. He has won an impressive 18 first prizes NPO over the course of his career:
1st NPO Etampes - 27,698 p.
1st NPO Orleans - 11,244 p.
1st NPO Orleans - 17,150 p.
1st NPO Ruffec - 6,150 p.
1st NPO Chateauroux - 10,789 p.
1st NPO Creil - 22,715 p.
1st NPO Sourdun - 18,339 p.
1st NPO Chantilly - 30,074 p.
1st NPO Ablis - 15,871 p.
1st NPO Blois - 15,172 p.
1st NPO Ablis - 18,911 p.
1st NPO Blois - 13,155 p.
1st NPO Peronne - 35,985 p.
1st NPO Argenton - 10,432 p.
1st NPO Sens sector 2 - 14,753 p.
1st NPO Sens - 28,413 p.
1st NPO Chateaudun - 11,572 p.
Winning first prizes against thousands of pigeons has become one of Peter's specialties. For instance, he closed the 2014 season winning no less than 21 first prizes against an average of 3,099 pigeons!
Replay dynastyMany of today's most successful pigeons in this loft are descendants of his world famous breeding pigeons, many of which have become internationally renowned birds. Most of you will be familiar with NL 04-2057095 Replay (an amazing breeder), a 100% Koopman pigeon that originates from an exchange with Marcel Sangers. He is quite a unique and talented breeder.
We would like to take you through some of his most successful youngsters:
Nathalie
His excellent daughter NL06-1073255 Nathalie was a highly successful racing bird, having won a 1st Nat. NPO Chantilly 30,074 pigeons. In addition, she is the dam of many first prize winners, including the 1st Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance 2014, and the winner of a 1st Peronne – 2,817 p. (=4th S-Prov. 9,776 p.), 1st Strombeek – 2,303 p., 1st Nanteuil – 1,170 p., 1st Meaux - 724 p., 1st Duffel - 643 p.
Pikeur
Replay is also the sire of Pikeur NL06-1073335, winner of a 1st provincial Ablis against 40,268 pigeons and in turn the sire of Miss Lucky NL08-1545338, winner of a 1st Nat. Sector 2 Blois against 15,172 pigeons.
Amigo -> Joy -> Shane
The NL05-1400951 Amigo is another promising pigeon bred directly from Replay. Amigo has won three first prizes in his brief career as a racing bird. He was also 9th National Ace Pigeon WHZB, 1st Ace Pigeon sprint Drechtsteden 2007, and 1st Ace Pigeon Overall Drechtsteden 2007. He has bred equally talented youngsters as well, including Joy NL08-1545445 Joy, winner of a 1st NPO Ablis 15,871 pigeons and winner of a car against 78,219 pigeons.
It is quite unbelievable but this Joy was equally talented as a breeding pigeon as she was as a racing bird. She is in turn the dam of Shane NL11-1744271, winner of an impressive first prize from Argenton against 10,432 pigeons.
Few of us can imagine what it feels like to have such an exceptionally strong pigeon breed that masters the art of winning early prizes, breeding plenty of high quality descendants and having an excellent appearance, with great plumage and a strong and solid body.
And then there is Replay Jr.It would be impossible to discuss every talented pigeon in Peter's collection but there is one pigeon that should not be overlooked:
Maarten Huijsman, a rising star in The Netherlands, had heard of this amazing pigeon, and he paid a visit to Peter in 2010, asking for some of his very best pigeons. Peter had another group of youngsters from Replay, which he decided to lend to Maarten. The results were spectacular: the late cock NL09-1192917 Replay Jr. developed into one of Holland's very best breeding pigeons, breeding quite a few successful descendants in a short period of time. They have won many great prizes:
1st Prov. Ace Pigeon middle distance 2014
1st NPO Creil – 26,489 p.
1st Nijvel – 1,603 p.
1st prov. St.Quentin – 4,845 p.
2nd NPO Sens – 8,800 p.
3rd NPO Sens – 8,800 p.
4th NPO Sens – 8,800 p.
6th NPO Chateauroux – 11,572 p.
6th NPO Creil – 26,489 p.
9th NPO Lille – 16,450 p.
9th NPO Peronne – 19,772 p.
It would be hard to find o Wie.... kan er betere papieren overleggen ????
2014: another great seasonOne of the highlights of 2014 was the provincial victory of NL13-1240992 Tiesto from Nanteuil in the province. This talented one year old won another first prize shortly after, resulting in an excellent palmares for 2014:
1st prov. Nanteuil – 13,814 p.
1st Sens – 1,603 p.
The sire of Tiesto was obtained from Ad Schaerlaeckens and he originates from the outstanding bloodlines of ‘Den Extreem’ Marcel Wouters and ‘De Kaasboer’ Gaston Van De Wouwer. The dam of Tiesto is a daughter of ‘Amigo’, making him a granddaughter of ‘Replay’.
To concludePeter, Nathalie and Gwen Van De Merwe are part of a very strong pigeon family that has had another great season. Once again, the Van De Merwe pigeon has helped to develop many other lofts as well. This pigeon breed has enabled John Stock to claim a 1st prov. from Peronne, while Maarten Huijsmans has won an astounding seven teletext prizes. The team of Potten & Laenen have won many great results thanks to the Van De Merwe breed as well. This is obviously the kind of pigeon breed that can excel worldwide, which is the biggest compliment Peter Van De Merwe can get.