Article by Brent Hill courtesy of SA Pigeon News
Article Published 24 June 2009

In this day and age, when the pigeon press is obsessed with the negativity of the modern day stresses and complications with practising our wonderful hobby, due to ever-rising costs, smaller plots, limited time and resources, it was a breath of fresh air to visit Ewald De Vries, the South West Combine Champion for 2008.

Ewald in front of his loft

The South West Combine is made up of the Western Province Homing Union, South Peninsula Homing Union and the Wynberg District Homing Union in Cape Town. These three unions which compete in the southern suburbs of Cape Town have been flying together on a combine basis for the last three years. There were 130 members participating in the races in 2008 and the numbers appear to be increasing for 2009. The success of this venture is indicative of the benefits of working together for the betterment of our sport.

The fancier:
Ewald De Vries started with pigeons back in 1952, so he certainly is no newcomer to pigeon racing. Ewald took a break from racing for a few years and made his comeback in 1999. When starting again, Ewald acknowledges the kind gesture made by his good friend Eddie Renda, who offered Ewald stock pigeons from which to breed. Ewald made the trip to Gauteng and returned with twelve pigeons, from which he was to breed his future racing team. These birds contained the bloodlines of the legendary Monty Van Der Burg Herman Fihrens bloodlines, Piet Manders Janssens and Putteries from George Read. To these Ewald added some birds from Derrick Louw, Joop Knoop and Jannie Mohr.

Ewald immediately saw the value of Eddie Renda’s generosity when the birds started to score in his club, the Royal Homing Society and the South Peninsula Homing Union.

Ewald has made many good friends form the international pigeon racing fraternity by visiting the Sun City Million Dollar race each year. In doing so, he met Phillipe Brantegem from Belgium and for the 2008 season, they flew in a partnership, as De Vries and Brantegem. Phillipe Brantegem takes a keen interest in the performance of the team and Ewald is in weekly contact with him, keeping him up to date with their performances. This friendship has also resulted in a holiday to Belgium from Phillipe to Ewald, during which Ewald was able to visit some of the top lofts in the home of pigeon racing. The success that this new partnership enjoyed in their first season was beyond expectations with Ewald finishing the season as Combine Champion.

Blue check cock 2280 a Colesberg Federation winner

The 2008 season:
The 2008 season is one that Ewald will certainly remember. Ewald was quick off the mark with his birds scoring in the Combine early in the season, scoring 7th and 8th from Touwsriver against 1483 pigeons and then 7th, 14th, 20th and 24th from Laingsburg against 1536 pigeons. and then 13th, 22nd, 25th and 29th Laingsburg against 1831 pigeons; a great start to the season in anyone’s books.

But it was as the distances grew further that Ewald’s birds came into their own. From Kroonstad, 1097 kilometres, he was 21st Combine, 7th Section and 1st and 6th Club.
Colesberg, 730 kilometres, he was 1st and 14th Combine, 1st and 9th Section and 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th Club.
From Springfontein,800 kilometres, he scored 6th and 7th Combine, 3rd and 4th Section and 1st and 2nd Club.
Kimberley, 835 kilometres, he took 14th Combine, 5th Section and 2nd and 5th Club.
Bloemfontein, 910 kilometres, 3rd and 27th Combine, 1st Section and 1st and 3rd Club.

Going into the last race of the season, Bloemfontein at 910 kilometres, Ewald and Hennie Laubscher of the Wetton Homing Society were deadheaded, each having the same number of points. The 910 kilometre classic end to the Cape racing season was therefore going to be the decider as to who would end up as Combine champion for 2008. Ewald scored an early hit when he timed in his blue check white flight hen WP 07-5000 to be 3rd in the Combine enabling Ewald to take the crown for the 2008 season.

A summary of Ewald’s achievements during 2008 are as follows:

South Western Pigeon Combine 2008:
1st Colesberg Combine 1531 birds, 722 kilometres.
35 positions in the first 30 in the Combine.
Winner of Old Bird Metres, Points and First Bird Points
Winner of All Birds Metres, Points and First Bird Points
Winner Yearling Points and First Bird Points
Winner Short Distance First Bird Points
Winner Long Distance Metres, Points and First Bird Points
9th and 10th position in the Bird of the Year
Royal Homing Society 2008:
9 wins
6 x seconds
46 places in the first six positions
Winner of Wickham Trophy
Winner of Points
Winner of Metre Averages
Best Bird: Blue bar hen SP05-1204
South Western Pigeon Combine: Central Section 2008:
2 wins; Bloemfontein 912 kilometres and Colesberg 722 kilometres.
Winner of Yearling Metres, Points and First Bird Points
Winner of Short Distance First Bird Points
Winner of Long Distance Metres, Points and First Bird Points
5th, 6th and 7th Bird of the Year

At the 2009 SANPO Awards meeting, Ewald was awarded his Springbok colours for racing achievements, a great and justly deserved honour.

Now let’s take a look at why I said that visiting Ewald was a breath of fresh air. Ewald lives in a cottage in Diep River, Cape Town and only has limited space in which to practise his hobby. When entering the backyard, one is immediately aware of the cleanliness and precision of the man. It was moulting season when I visited Ewald, but there was not a feather to be seen. Ewald races to a 4 metre long loft with the top third being louvred and the bottom two thirds closed. The roof is made of asbestos and slopes slightly to the front. The loft is divided into three compartments and with the close proximity of the birds to their master; they are noticeably tame and have no fear as Ewald moves amongst them. The loft is kept scrupulously clean and is scraped twice a day, every day of the year.

Ewald De Vries’s neat racing loft.

His loft faces the “wrong way” in that it faces north and thereby is exposed to the driving rain in winter, but due to Ewald’s handiwork, the loft remains bone-dry. In addition to the small racing loft, Ewald has a small aviary which is divided into two partitions for his stock birds. An interesting feature of his setup is the four nestboxes that Ewald has mounted against the wall in front of his loft. These nestboxes each house a pair of stock birds during the breeding season, and because Ewald’s stock birds are all homed, they can fly out freely, enjoying their liberty and thereby ensuring the rearing of healthy youngsters.

With the majority of fanciers keeping large teams in order to survive the season’s anticipated losses, Ewald only keeps sixty four race birds to see him through the season.

Blue bar cock 6389 a prolific breeder.

Ewald’s stock bird complement has recently swelled to a total of eight pairs, due to some of his top birds having been retired to the breeding ranks. Two of the stock cocks that immediately stand out as having made an indelible mark on his family of birds are the blue bar cock 6389 and his son, a blue check cock 2280, a Colesberg federation winner. The blue bar cock 6389 and his hen 1129 have bred seven youngsters of which only two have never scored. These include 2280 the winner of the Colesberg federation and many other fed positions, 1238 winner of the 2008 Colesberg federation, 303 winner of the Springfontein federation and 302 which won the Western Cape National Loft final race in strong headwinds by 45 minutes. Ewald believes that when one has too many stock pigeons, you cannot do justice to your birds.

Ewald vaccinates his birds against pox and paramyxo-virus early to ensure that they build up the necessary immunity and his birds are treated on a basic programme against the main diseases. He mixes his own food and is particular in the choosing of his grains. Ewald starts to train his birds by exercising them twice a day at the start of the season and then gradually limits their daily exercise to once a day around the loft. On Saturdays, the birds not entered in the race will receive a training toss of approximately 110 kilometres from Worcester.

Ewald is not a follower of the eye-sign theory, but prefers to pair the best race birds together, believing that the best will produce the best.

The attention to detail and cleanliness of the lofts and the radiant condition of the birds speak volumes of the dedication and commitment that Ewald puts into his birds. If last years performances and the condition of his race team are indicators, then the members of the South Western Combine had better have done their homework for the test that lies ahead in 2009.

It was a pleasure to spend time with Ewald De Vries, a dedicated and thorough pigeon fancier. Having visited many lofts locally and internationally over the thirty three years that I have been a pigeon fancier, only one word describes my visit to Ewald De Vries, IMPRESSIVE.

Stock bird nest boxes against the wall.