Jos Martens (Stein, NL) has a set of breeders beyond category with his descendants of Der Sjef

In March of this year, Jos was convinced that no international betting-flights could take place. Because of this prospect, people completely focussed on breeding. When the season started, the birds and also Jos, were not ready (just like many other fanciers). Because the birds were not sufficiently trained and were breeding large youngsters, the birds could not be sent to Pau. All widowers have had only 1 race in 2020 because of this reason (and because of the extreme moulting). Agen became Jos his first race and this were his achievements:

Independently of the weird season of 2020, Jos has been part of the top of the Limburg (NL) and national (NL) long distance fanciers for many years. Next to many top achievements, the percentage of prices he wins is extraordinarily high. The absolute high points are of course the 3 international wins he achieved. All 3 winners are closely related to the phenomenal bird ‘Der Sjef’. This bird has been at the base of many top achievements of the past years. ‘Der Sjef’ has been named after Jos’s father who passed away. ‘Der Sjef’ is a crossing product from birds of Gebr. Kuijpers (Neer, NL) and birds of Comb. Busscher-Albertz (Elsloo, NL). The mother of ‘Der Sjef’, a breeding mother, is a daughter of ‘De Nachtvlieger’ (translates into The Nightflyer) of Gebr. Kuijpers. This bird is also part of the bloodline of the bird ‘Dark Night’ of Jos, who has achieved 18th National Barcelona 2018. ‘Der Sjef’ was a beautiful blue cock, just how father Sjef liked it. As yearling ‘Der Sjef’ showed his potential when he achieved a 14th Bergerac (3462 birds) and 38th Cahors (2863 birds). After this, Jos decided to put ‘Der Sjef’ in a breeding position. This was surely one of the best decisions that Jos has made. ‘Der Sjef’ has become a phenomenal breeder and is now father and grandfather of uncountable great birds, under which 3 international winners:

Next to ‘Der Sjef’ being a great breeder, it is now known that his offspring have the same genetic qualities. A few of these, who were important for the successes over the past few years, will be elaborated on further into this reportage.

NL13-1540537, André

The father of the winner of the 1st International Marseille is a son of the ‘711’ of Comb. Busscher-Albertz (Elsloo, NL). The NL96-711 was one of the best overnight flyers of the Netherlands in his time. Mother of ‘André’ is again a daughter of the top breeder ‘Der Sjef’ x ‘Mother Tarbes’. This ‘Mother Tarbes’ is mother of the 1st International Tarbes and also grandmother of the 1st International Marseille. ‘André’ has shown that he was one of the best back when he was a yearling in 2014, but the year 2015 has been extraordinary:

NL16-1795328, Helios

Another top breeder is ‘Helios’. In 2018 he won the 1st International Perpignan with a speed of 816 m/p/m. Even as yearling, ‘Helios’ showed himself 3x in the marathon flights with 418th Provincial Bergerac, 417th Provincial Cahors and 2922nd International Agen against 13030 birds. 2018 was an extraordinary year with 4 prices of which 3x top 40 National:

The father of ‘Helios’ is ‘Hyperion’, who has won the 304th National Barcelona in 2018. He is a son of ‘Der Sjef’. ‘Dolly’ is the mother of ‘Helios’ and she is a daughter of ‘Irunha’ (1st National Irun 2007) x ‘Sasha’ (sister of 1st International Tarbes).

NL11-1063724, Dolly

An important breeder in the loft of Jos is ‘Dolly’. The father of ‘Dolly’ is ‘Irunha’ (1st National and 4th International Irun 2007) of Theo Daalmans (NL). Mother of ‘Dolly’ is ‘Sasha’, daughter of ‘Der Sjef’ x ‘Mother Tarbes’, and thus a full sister of the 1st International Tarbes. ‘Dolly’ is the mother of ‘Helios’, but also of ‘Tommetje’ (1st Ace Pigeon department Limburg 2016).

NL13-1540525, Dark Night

‘Dark Night’ was one of the best birds of Jos for the ZLU flights before he became a great breeder. In his bloodline we again see ‘Kweekmoedertje’ (translates to ‘Breeding Mother’), who is also the mother of ‘Der Sjef’. We can also see a sister of ‘Kweekmoedertje’ in the bloodline of ‘Dark Night’. We can speak about an absolute great flyer on the ZLU flights when we talk about ‘Dark Night’:

NL12-1936249, Bellissimo

‘Bellissimo’ has flown an impressive amount of 3 times in the top-10 Provincial. He is a full brother of ‘Rhone Lady’ who was a top bird herself. Father of ‘Bellissimo’ is the NL10-2030209 en he was 1st Ace Pigeon Agen/Bordeaux ZLU in 2014 over 3 years and in 2015 he became 1st Ace Pigeon Agen/Bordeaux over 4 years. A few of his achievements were 19th National Bordeaux 2011, 53rd National Narbonne 2013 and 19th National Agen 2014. Mother of ‘Bellissimo’ is the NL10-283, called ‘Lieveling’ (translates to ‘Favorite’), is a daughter of the 1st National Tarbes and therefore a granddaughter of ‘Der Sjef’. The best achievements of ‘Bellissimo’ are:

NL12-1936276, Trust

‘Trust’ is the last bird in the list of top breeders of Jos that we introduce in this report. Sadly, we have no picture of ‘Trust’. ‘Trust’ is a son of the top breeder NL09-673 who is the father of:

‘Trust’ flew the national flights between 2014 and 2018 and has never missed a price!

To sum up

Again and again we see that having successful birds highly depends on having a strong group of breeders at the basis. Also with Jos, this is surely the case. The decision to put ‘Der Sjef’ in the breeding loft was a golden decision of Jos. This bird has become a great breeder and is now father and grandfather of 3 international winners and a whole series of top performing birds. These (grand)children have shown that they have the same race winning genes as ‘Der Sjef’. This gives use great promises about future successes originating from the lofts of Jos.