Genetics in Layman Terms
THE PREPOTENT PRODUCER & FILIAL DEGENERATION
by Stephen Bishop
Prepotency can best be defined as the unusual ability of an individual or strain to transmit its characteristics to its offspring due to dominant genes. Genes contain DNA. DNA serve as the basis of heredity. Without getting scientific, genes transmit hereditary characters by specifying the structure of genetic material. It is what people are referring to when they say he’s a chip off the old block or the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, etc. Let’s say a child who was separated from his father at an early age meets his dad when he’s twenty years old. The twenty year old notices that both him and his dad have quiet dispositions and frequently smile. These can be said to be inherited traits. These tendencies come from genes containing DNA which predisposed them to have quiet, amiable dispositions.
Filial Degeneration can best be explained as the tendency of an individual of a line to revert to the average of that line. What exactly does this mean? Well a good illustration of this would be if a family of three generations of short, unattractive people gave birth to a daughter who grew to be both tall and pretty. Filial Degeneration would dictate that this tall pretty girl would probably give birth to short, unattractive children. This is due to the fact that the preponderance of her genes contain DNA coded with the short unattractive blueprint.
Now, knowing that an individual of a line has a tendency to revert to the average of it’s line gives us something to work with. We can strive to establish a line of high performance prepotent racers. How, you ask? Well if we start with proven racers, breed youngsters from them and cull severely, we will be left with proven racers who are bred from proven racers. The birds remaining after the culling process are those that inherited the winning characteristics/genes from their parents. With each generation bred and culled you are narrowing your gene pool.
What you are doing in effect is increasing the probability of future youngsters inheriting the genes responsible for the winning characteristics of your foundation pairs. A bird receives 50% of its genes from it’s sire and 50% from it’s dam. When you breed from a pair of winners versus a pair of diploma-less birds, you increase the likelihood of producing winners greatly. Lets break it down. Say you place 20 balls, 4 red, 4 blue, 4 green, 4 yellow and 4 black in a bag. Now, you can reach into this bag and extract two balls at a time. Red balls are the designated winning balls. Two reds win. One red with any other color also wins. Two of any other color, or combination of colors, other than red lose. Now if after every draw you throw away the non-red balls and place the red ones back in the bag, you are increasing the probability of getting a red ball with each subsequent draw. After every draw and disposal of the non-red balls you are increasing the percentage of red balls to the total amount of balls. Eventually you will be left with all red balls and each and every draw will be a winning draw. Now substitute red balls with winning genes and substitute draws with youngsters. If you cull the losers (non-red balls) and only put the winners (red balls) back in your loft, you are increasing the probability of getting winning genes passed on to future youngsters. The name of the game is limiting the gene pool. I once owned a performance bulldog named Red Feather. She was a caramel colored red nose dog. She was the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of a dog known as Triple Ott Red, a litter brother to CH. Yellow John. Her pedigree was as follows.
Bass' "Tramp Red Boy"
George's "Triple Ott Red" (sire)
Bass' "Tramp Red Boy"
Marlowe's "Red Feather"
Bass' "Cat"
Bishop's "Red Feather"
George's "Triple Ott Red" (grandsire)
Whaley’s "Red Feather" (dam)
George's "Triple Ott Red" (great-grandsire)
Bass' "Cat"
Bass' "Cleo"
Red Feather was genetically 87.5% Triple Ott Red. This is calculated based on the fact that an individual receives genes as follows.
50 % from each parent
25 % from each grandparent
12.5% from each great-grandparent
The objective here was to produce a dog as close to Triple Ott Red as possible without cloning (not an option back in 1983). Although Red Feather was a female, she would lift one leg up when urinating as male dogs do. She acted like a male dog. Now I might not race a bird bred like Red Feather, but I sure as hell would do this type of breeding, which I call “Triple Crossing” to preserve an old multi-diploma, proven prepotent producer. The same principle, but not as intense, could be used to produce a consistent family of winning birds. This is the route to increase consistency in a loft. Start with top notch birds and limit the gene pool. Now, to produce the world beating, set the combine on fire, ten times first, type of racer, you would probably have a greater chance outcrossing two diploma winning individuals from unrelated consistent families, but that’s another article. This write-up should give you an idea on how to take advantage of Filial Degeneration to establish a consistent prepotent line of racers.
Yours in sport,
Steve.
by Stephen Bishop
Prepotency can best be defined as the unusual ability of an individual or strain to transmit its characteristics to its offspring due to dominant genes. Genes contain DNA. DNA serve as the basis of heredity. Without getting scientific, genes transmit hereditary characters by specifying the structure of genetic material. It is what people are referring to when they say he’s a chip off the old block or the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, etc. Let’s say a child who was separated from his father at an early age meets his dad when he’s twenty years old. The twenty year old notices that both him and his dad have quiet dispositions and frequently smile. These can be said to be inherited traits. These tendencies come from genes containing DNA which predisposed them to have quiet, amiable dispositions.
Filial Degeneration can best be explained as the tendency of an individual of a line to revert to the average of that line. What exactly does this mean? Well a good illustration of this would be if a family of three generations of short, unattractive people gave birth to a daughter who grew to be both tall and pretty. Filial Degeneration would dictate that this tall pretty girl would probably give birth to short, unattractive children. This is due to the fact that the preponderance of her genes contain DNA coded with the short unattractive blueprint.
Now, knowing that an individual of a line has a tendency to revert to the average of it’s line gives us something to work with. We can strive to establish a line of high performance prepotent racers. How, you ask? Well if we start with proven racers, breed youngsters from them and cull severely, we will be left with proven racers who are bred from proven racers. The birds remaining after the culling process are those that inherited the winning characteristics/genes from their parents. With each generation bred and culled you are narrowing your gene pool.
What you are doing in effect is increasing the probability of future youngsters inheriting the genes responsible for the winning characteristics of your foundation pairs. A bird receives 50% of its genes from it’s sire and 50% from it’s dam. When you breed from a pair of winners versus a pair of diploma-less birds, you increase the likelihood of producing winners greatly. Lets break it down. Say you place 20 balls, 4 red, 4 blue, 4 green, 4 yellow and 4 black in a bag. Now, you can reach into this bag and extract two balls at a time. Red balls are the designated winning balls. Two reds win. One red with any other color also wins. Two of any other color, or combination of colors, other than red lose. Now if after every draw you throw away the non-red balls and place the red ones back in the bag, you are increasing the probability of getting a red ball with each subsequent draw. After every draw and disposal of the non-red balls you are increasing the percentage of red balls to the total amount of balls. Eventually you will be left with all red balls and each and every draw will be a winning draw. Now substitute red balls with winning genes and substitute draws with youngsters. If you cull the losers (non-red balls) and only put the winners (red balls) back in your loft, you are increasing the probability of getting winning genes passed on to future youngsters. The name of the game is limiting the gene pool. I once owned a performance bulldog named Red Feather. She was a caramel colored red nose dog. She was the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of a dog known as Triple Ott Red, a litter brother to CH. Yellow John. Her pedigree was as follows.
Bass' "Tramp Red Boy"
George's "Triple Ott Red" (sire)
Bass' "Tramp Red Boy"
Marlowe's "Red Feather"
Bass' "Cat"
Bishop's "Red Feather"
George's "Triple Ott Red" (grandsire)
Whaley’s "Red Feather" (dam)
George's "Triple Ott Red" (great-grandsire)
Bass' "Cat"
Bass' "Cleo"
Red Feather was genetically 87.5% Triple Ott Red. This is calculated based on the fact that an individual receives genes as follows.
50 % from each parent
25 % from each grandparent
12.5% from each great-grandparent
The objective here was to produce a dog as close to Triple Ott Red as possible without cloning (not an option back in 1983). Although Red Feather was a female, she would lift one leg up when urinating as male dogs do. She acted like a male dog. Now I might not race a bird bred like Red Feather, but I sure as hell would do this type of breeding, which I call “Triple Crossing” to preserve an old multi-diploma, proven prepotent producer. The same principle, but not as intense, could be used to produce a consistent family of winning birds. This is the route to increase consistency in a loft. Start with top notch birds and limit the gene pool. Now, to produce the world beating, set the combine on fire, ten times first, type of racer, you would probably have a greater chance outcrossing two diploma winning individuals from unrelated consistent families, but that’s another article. This write-up should give you an idea on how to take advantage of Filial Degeneration to establish a consistent prepotent line of racers.
Yours in sport,
Steve.
I came across this article, written by Alan Wheeldon, on the web. It hit home with me as it exemplifies what I have and will always strive for, a "small but formidable" loft:
Ron Sampford - The smallest racing loft in Europe
In the market town of Ware in Hertfordshire England there is an amazing racing loft. It is the loft of Ron Sampford. When I first saw it I couldn't quite believe it. It is only 8 foot by 5 foot. What's so amazing you might ask? Well that is his only loft. No separate young bird loft, no widowhood loft, no lofts for cocks and hens no stock loft, just one tiny loft and what's more, from this one loft he races the whole program. With such a tiny loft you would think that it must be really crowded inside, he must have his birds standing on top of each other, but no. When I visited Ron he had only 7 pair of old birds and the smallest young bird team that I have ever seen.........a grand total of six. Yes six. Surely he can't compete with such a small team? Well Ron likes to specialise. He loves the distance races and just look at his results. When he flew in the Three Counties Federation from Lerwick Ron was 1st, 3rd, 6th and 15th federation. When he topped the federation from Lerwick he was also 3rd federation from Fraserborough on the same day! A great performance when you consider that both race points are in Scotland, Lerwick 578 miles and Fraserborough 420 miles. What is even more remarkable Ron only sent 1 pigeon to Lerwick and a paltry 3 pigeons to Fraserborough. In one Three Counties race Ron sent only six pigeons. It was a really strong south east wind and it turned out that there were no pigeons on the day. The next day Ron had all six arrive he clocked 4 of them and if he had clocked all six he would have had the first six in the club but he was happy to settle for the first four. Many fliers never saw a bird. In one Amalgamation race, combining the North London federation, the Chilterns North Road federation and the Central North Road federation Ron was 17th, 20th, 22nd from Thurso.
Thurso is Ron?s favourite race point. He now flies Thurso in the London North Road Combine. His Thurso record must be one of the most consistent, especially for someone who only has such a small team. Over the years Ron has been 17th Combine, 37th Combine, 58th Combine, 40th Combine, 99th Combine. One year he was 5th and 49th Combine 5327 birds, and Ron has also been 3rd Combine 6,208 birds when there were only three pigeons home on the day.
In 2000 the London North Road combine from Thurso was a real stinker. The birds were liberated at midday in pouring rain, the race turned out to be a smash with hundreds of birds missing, but was Ron worried? No. He went on to take three positions in the first 100, winning 37th, 43rd and 91st Open Combine. In 2001 again the Thurso race was a stinker, only 17 made it on the day Ron had 2 in the first 100. He only sent 5 pigeons to this race, in fact he usually only sends five, and while many other hardened fanciers send big teams and lose pigeons from this dreaded racepoint, Ron gets all his five home with no trouble, and all in race time.
So why is Ron so successful at the distance with such a small loft and such a small team. Well if you look at his history, in the past he has flown against some of the great distance men in the pigeon world, such great names as Peter Titmus and Marley Westrop. A great schooling in distance flying.
The other thing that makes Ron so consistent at the distance race points is his pigeons. They contain out and out distance blood being mainly Westcotts. They are also reasonably inbred. He has had Westcotts for years with some given to him by the late great Frank Blackmore from Tottenham who was another great distance flyer. Over the years Ron has only really introduced one different breed of pigeon into his colony and that was a good Janssen that his brother Dave gifted him.
Ron's enthusiasm for the distance racing is shared by his wife Pat. It was Pat who bought Ron his one and only loft. She told me that it was 44 years ago that she bought Ron the loft, for a grand sum of GBP22. She bought it when they were on honeymoon and it has stood there in their garden ever since, and it still looks like new. It has an asbestos corregated roof, one door at the front and two wire windows. It is painted green. The pigeons trap just above the windows. It is refreshing to see such a simple set up. No fancy tiled roof, no complicated ventilation system, no closed in glass front, no darkness shutters. Just wire windows and one door.
So how is it that Ron can still compete successfully with such a small set up? Well Ron's pigeons have got a great constitution and he rarely, if ever, loses a pigeon. He invariably gets them all back in race time. To illustrate how tough Ron's pigeons are, one year he only bred one young bird. Yes one young bird! He trained it everywhere. He had a friend Danny Riggins who was a lorry driver, and as he was going to Peterborough which is about 50 miles away, he asked Ron if he could take Ron's one youngbird. Ron agreed. When Danny reached Peterborough it was pouring with rain. Danny phoned Ron and told him that the weather had turned bad and he would bring the bird back. Ron told Danny that it was just as bad at this end but not to worry just let the pigeon go, she can make it. Danny reluctantly let the pigeon go and within a couple of hours this single young bird, a small hen, alighted on the loft and went in as if to ask what all the fuss was about. That single young hen went on to fly the whole program from Peterborough through to Morpeth. That particular Morpeth which is approximately 250 miles north was a stinker of a race. There was a strong south westerly blowing but that young hen went on to take 36th open Morpeth 250 miles and won the club by over 1 hour! That must go down on record as being the smallest youngbird "team" ever. One! A great performance.
That particular example is not just a one off. Ron rarely loses youngbirds. Take for example last year, he again only bred 6 youngbirds. At the end of the season he still had five of them, he would have still had all six but he had to remove one of them as it got injured. The other thing that makes Ron pigeons special is their tame and relaxed temperament and the fact that Ron has a great affinity with his birds. Ron told me that when the pigeons are out he dare not leave the back door open or they will follow him into the kitchen. Ron has a small pond by his backdoor and during exercise they will fly down to the small pond and have a drink and a bath. They are perfectly relaxed doing this. One hen that Ron had that was a grizzle used to have a bath in the pond and then walk into the house through the kitchen and sit drying itself in front of the fire next to the dog! Ron said that sometimes on returning from a race the birds will fly straight to the pond for a quick drink before flying to the loft.
The young birds are just as relaxed. One year he let out the youngbirds and he went back inside the house. He came back out to look for them and as they weren't to be seen he thought that they must being flying off somewhere. He could hear the two little girls next door playing in their sand pit and when he looked over the fence there were his youngbirds, in the sandpit with the two girls, perfectly at home. What is also remarkable about Ron's loft is his feeding. You would think that he has a really complicated feeding regime, with high fat diets and massive carbohydrate loading before a big race but no, you'd be wrong. All that Ron feeds is beans. I'll repeat that in case any of you think that this is a misprint. Beans! Yes beans, just beans and nothing but beans. I can hear the continental distance fliers giving out cries of disbelief but I've been there and seen it. Just beans. He does trap with a pinch of canary seed but after that its beans. I asked him what he put in his water.....his answer......just water. What about vitamins, anti-canker treatments, anti-coccidiosis treatments.....he never uses them. All he does is vaccinate against paramyxovirus then after that nothing. His pigeons are hard. Ron told me that they have never had canker and I must say they all looked a picture of health. His pigeons are let out twice a day. Ron said when he had a Jack Russell terrier he left them out all day. The birds get trained twice a week from about twenty miles but as Ron doesn't drive his good friend Bill Watson takes them. Ron flies natural and believes that pigeons fly the distance better if they are mated for life with one partner. Ron does like to fly hens. He prefers it if they are sitting 10 days on eggs but if he has spare hens then they go celibate. I remember one year when Ron had many more hens than cocks, but that didn't bother him he just sent hens.
It was a very refreshing experience seeing Ron's loft and birds. It illustrates that you don't need hundreds of pigeons to compete, you don't need massive lofts and big youngbird teams. You don't need complicated feeding regimes or expensive medicines. You just need good pigeons with a tough constitution. Oh, and one tiny loft. Article by, Alan Wheeldon
Ron Sampford - The smallest racing loft in Europe
In the market town of Ware in Hertfordshire England there is an amazing racing loft. It is the loft of Ron Sampford. When I first saw it I couldn't quite believe it. It is only 8 foot by 5 foot. What's so amazing you might ask? Well that is his only loft. No separate young bird loft, no widowhood loft, no lofts for cocks and hens no stock loft, just one tiny loft and what's more, from this one loft he races the whole program. With such a tiny loft you would think that it must be really crowded inside, he must have his birds standing on top of each other, but no. When I visited Ron he had only 7 pair of old birds and the smallest young bird team that I have ever seen.........a grand total of six. Yes six. Surely he can't compete with such a small team? Well Ron likes to specialise. He loves the distance races and just look at his results. When he flew in the Three Counties Federation from Lerwick Ron was 1st, 3rd, 6th and 15th federation. When he topped the federation from Lerwick he was also 3rd federation from Fraserborough on the same day! A great performance when you consider that both race points are in Scotland, Lerwick 578 miles and Fraserborough 420 miles. What is even more remarkable Ron only sent 1 pigeon to Lerwick and a paltry 3 pigeons to Fraserborough. In one Three Counties race Ron sent only six pigeons. It was a really strong south east wind and it turned out that there were no pigeons on the day. The next day Ron had all six arrive he clocked 4 of them and if he had clocked all six he would have had the first six in the club but he was happy to settle for the first four. Many fliers never saw a bird. In one Amalgamation race, combining the North London federation, the Chilterns North Road federation and the Central North Road federation Ron was 17th, 20th, 22nd from Thurso.
Thurso is Ron?s favourite race point. He now flies Thurso in the London North Road Combine. His Thurso record must be one of the most consistent, especially for someone who only has such a small team. Over the years Ron has been 17th Combine, 37th Combine, 58th Combine, 40th Combine, 99th Combine. One year he was 5th and 49th Combine 5327 birds, and Ron has also been 3rd Combine 6,208 birds when there were only three pigeons home on the day.
In 2000 the London North Road combine from Thurso was a real stinker. The birds were liberated at midday in pouring rain, the race turned out to be a smash with hundreds of birds missing, but was Ron worried? No. He went on to take three positions in the first 100, winning 37th, 43rd and 91st Open Combine. In 2001 again the Thurso race was a stinker, only 17 made it on the day Ron had 2 in the first 100. He only sent 5 pigeons to this race, in fact he usually only sends five, and while many other hardened fanciers send big teams and lose pigeons from this dreaded racepoint, Ron gets all his five home with no trouble, and all in race time.
So why is Ron so successful at the distance with such a small loft and such a small team. Well if you look at his history, in the past he has flown against some of the great distance men in the pigeon world, such great names as Peter Titmus and Marley Westrop. A great schooling in distance flying.
The other thing that makes Ron so consistent at the distance race points is his pigeons. They contain out and out distance blood being mainly Westcotts. They are also reasonably inbred. He has had Westcotts for years with some given to him by the late great Frank Blackmore from Tottenham who was another great distance flyer. Over the years Ron has only really introduced one different breed of pigeon into his colony and that was a good Janssen that his brother Dave gifted him.
Ron's enthusiasm for the distance racing is shared by his wife Pat. It was Pat who bought Ron his one and only loft. She told me that it was 44 years ago that she bought Ron the loft, for a grand sum of GBP22. She bought it when they were on honeymoon and it has stood there in their garden ever since, and it still looks like new. It has an asbestos corregated roof, one door at the front and two wire windows. It is painted green. The pigeons trap just above the windows. It is refreshing to see such a simple set up. No fancy tiled roof, no complicated ventilation system, no closed in glass front, no darkness shutters. Just wire windows and one door.
So how is it that Ron can still compete successfully with such a small set up? Well Ron's pigeons have got a great constitution and he rarely, if ever, loses a pigeon. He invariably gets them all back in race time. To illustrate how tough Ron's pigeons are, one year he only bred one young bird. Yes one young bird! He trained it everywhere. He had a friend Danny Riggins who was a lorry driver, and as he was going to Peterborough which is about 50 miles away, he asked Ron if he could take Ron's one youngbird. Ron agreed. When Danny reached Peterborough it was pouring with rain. Danny phoned Ron and told him that the weather had turned bad and he would bring the bird back. Ron told Danny that it was just as bad at this end but not to worry just let the pigeon go, she can make it. Danny reluctantly let the pigeon go and within a couple of hours this single young bird, a small hen, alighted on the loft and went in as if to ask what all the fuss was about. That single young hen went on to fly the whole program from Peterborough through to Morpeth. That particular Morpeth which is approximately 250 miles north was a stinker of a race. There was a strong south westerly blowing but that young hen went on to take 36th open Morpeth 250 miles and won the club by over 1 hour! That must go down on record as being the smallest youngbird "team" ever. One! A great performance.
That particular example is not just a one off. Ron rarely loses youngbirds. Take for example last year, he again only bred 6 youngbirds. At the end of the season he still had five of them, he would have still had all six but he had to remove one of them as it got injured. The other thing that makes Ron pigeons special is their tame and relaxed temperament and the fact that Ron has a great affinity with his birds. Ron told me that when the pigeons are out he dare not leave the back door open or they will follow him into the kitchen. Ron has a small pond by his backdoor and during exercise they will fly down to the small pond and have a drink and a bath. They are perfectly relaxed doing this. One hen that Ron had that was a grizzle used to have a bath in the pond and then walk into the house through the kitchen and sit drying itself in front of the fire next to the dog! Ron said that sometimes on returning from a race the birds will fly straight to the pond for a quick drink before flying to the loft.
The young birds are just as relaxed. One year he let out the youngbirds and he went back inside the house. He came back out to look for them and as they weren't to be seen he thought that they must being flying off somewhere. He could hear the two little girls next door playing in their sand pit and when he looked over the fence there were his youngbirds, in the sandpit with the two girls, perfectly at home. What is also remarkable about Ron's loft is his feeding. You would think that he has a really complicated feeding regime, with high fat diets and massive carbohydrate loading before a big race but no, you'd be wrong. All that Ron feeds is beans. I'll repeat that in case any of you think that this is a misprint. Beans! Yes beans, just beans and nothing but beans. I can hear the continental distance fliers giving out cries of disbelief but I've been there and seen it. Just beans. He does trap with a pinch of canary seed but after that its beans. I asked him what he put in his water.....his answer......just water. What about vitamins, anti-canker treatments, anti-coccidiosis treatments.....he never uses them. All he does is vaccinate against paramyxovirus then after that nothing. His pigeons are hard. Ron told me that they have never had canker and I must say they all looked a picture of health. His pigeons are let out twice a day. Ron said when he had a Jack Russell terrier he left them out all day. The birds get trained twice a week from about twenty miles but as Ron doesn't drive his good friend Bill Watson takes them. Ron flies natural and believes that pigeons fly the distance better if they are mated for life with one partner. Ron does like to fly hens. He prefers it if they are sitting 10 days on eggs but if he has spare hens then they go celibate. I remember one year when Ron had many more hens than cocks, but that didn't bother him he just sent hens.
It was a very refreshing experience seeing Ron's loft and birds. It illustrates that you don't need hundreds of pigeons to compete, you don't need massive lofts and big youngbird teams. You don't need complicated feeding regimes or expensive medicines. You just need good pigeons with a tough constitution. Oh, and one tiny loft. Article by, Alan Wheeldon