Gerhard van Aswegen of Krugersdorp was introduced to pigeon racing by his father-in-law during the early years of this century. He now owns GJT Lofts and races with the Noordheuwel Racing Pigeon Club, one of nine clubs under the banner of the strong West Rand Racing Pigeon Association (WRRPA).
GJT Lofts has invested in pigeon families such as De Rauw Sablon, C & G Koopman, Jef, and Luc & Nadia Houben, which meet top performance criteria.
A large portion of the original local prime stock was made up of the established SA lines of Ds Gert Painter & Son, who produced the winner of the 2001 Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race and whose pigeons form the base of the Tom Lock line in South Africa.
In 2011, in partnership with Stear Painter and Gerhard’s brother-in-law, Thys Steenkamp, GJT Lofts won an astonishing 47 pigeon racing events, participating in two different clubs.
A fresh turn for Gerhard came after meeting Robert Swanepoel, a champion pigeon fancier, who owns Fort Knox Lofts (fortknoxlofts.co.za). Robert is an ambitious importer of superior pigeon racing stock and introduced Gerhard to the Kaasboer family line, the latest sensation on Europe’s scoreboards.
New gold
After buying a fine blue cock named Gold Gouda (DAN 0078- 023- 11), Gerhard went on to purchase 11 more Kaasboer pigeons. He also bought a small parcel of pigeons from Billy Kitchenbrand, sales executive of Kitchenbrand’s Lofts (kitchenbrandsloft.co.za). Within this parcel were two Kaasboer blue barred hens – Kiran (BELG 6357873 -10) and Heidi (BELG 6033117-07) – that Billy had bought on the Belgian pigeon auction website pipa.be.
The 2015 performance highlights of GJT Lofts comprise 11 club wins (seven with the Kaasboer line), two union wins and eight union second places. GJT Lofts was named the 2015 Points League WRRPA Sprint Champion (decided over 14 races).
Top Performers
No fewer than 21 Kaasboer matched pairs grace the prime stud of GJT Lofts (30 importations, 12 selected winning offspring).
Some of the Kaasboer top performers at GJT Lofts include:
- ZA RAW 1226-11H cheque hen: Kaasboer/Sablon second Ace pigeon, 2012 Central Provincial One-Day Loft. A son of Kaasboer was mated to a granddaughter of Kaasboer and produced the blue hen Kiran. It was cross-mated with inbred De Rauw Sablon Marcel Aelbrecht cock 3218 11 MCLOFTS, which produced ‘1226’.
- ZA 58778-13 blue cock: Third in the main event of the 2014 South African Professional Invitational One-Day Loft Race, netting more than R80 000 in prize money. Gold Gouda, the Danish Kaasboer cock from Koe Oog x Bon Duivin, was mated to Kiran to produce ‘58778’.
- ZA NOVPF 1716-14 cheque cock: Kaasboer/Sablon/ Koopman Champion Ace Middle Distance Pigeon in the North East Free State Federation at 1 625m/min. Sire: the Kaasboer cock ZA 3686-13 (son of Heidi); dam: Zara Leander from Oskar.
- ZA RAW 4830-14 blue hen: Kaasboer/Clausing won the 2015 Bethlehem Union Sprint at 1 449m/ min. Its dam is the inbred Kaasboer hen Kiran.
