The optimal health treatment program for your pigeons can make the difference between birds that are great performers, and those that are average to poor performers – no matter how good their bloodline is.  The simple fact is that you can have the best pigeon, keep it in the best housing, and do all the training you like, but if your bird falls victim to any common ailment, its performance will be negatively affected.  By dosing your birds correctly when the signs of disease appear, but above all, keeping disease at bay through a carefully considered treatment program of vitamins, supplements, nutraceuticals, and immunity boosters, you give yourself and your bird the best chance of winning. The Medpet program and its products are based on science, sound knowledge, and experience, and encapsulate all the requirements of keeping birds healthy. 

To further explore the value of keeping racing birds healthy, and how to do so, Medpet spoke to some of the country’s top pigeon fanciers to get their input.

Cas Mathee (interviewed 3rd November)
Legendary pigeon fancier Cas Mathee has been racing pigeons successfully for many years.   In a recent telephone interview Cas had nothing but positive things to say about Medpet products. Cas has an enviable record in club racing and the last decade of using Medpet products has seen him occupying the tops spots in race after race.  This season has been one of his best yet, and he puts his success down to the fact that his birds are kept in the best possible condition through the correct type of treatment.  Cas currently buys no products other than Medpet products.  99% of what he treats his birds with is Medpet products, the remaining 1% are various concoctions that he himself makes up, such as a salt mix.  He does not use any imported products whatsoever. After all, why should he when he achieves results like he did this season, and he pays up to 50% less than imported products:

·          He won 15 races this year (on open bird points)

·          He won another 3 sprint races

·          He also won long distance points in the union and the club

·          He also won two “combines”

·          In some cases his was the only bird back that day

 Cas regularly puts calls through to Medet to compliment the company on the quality and performance of its products.  Cas believes that it is due to the Medpet products he uses that his birds are kept healthy and in great condition – he has no problems such as viruses or diseases.

When asked which of Medpet’s products he thought were particularly good, he replied: “I can maar just say that they are ALL good, I would recommend all of them.”  Sensibly, he alternates between the different products in the Medpet range (which helps to prevent his birds building a resistance to one type or another), and having had great results every year for the past 10 years, his overriding opinion on the Medpet  products is that “they work for me!”. 

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Joggie Peters participating as Peters lofts with his son Niekie

Why is Mr Joggie Peters qualified to advise or comment on pigeon racing or health?  Firstly, he is a well-respected pigeon fancier with many, many years of experience.  His name is familiar to most pigeon fanciers in South Africa, not least because of the informative and thoroughly researched articles he writes for Pigeon News.  Secondly, he usually ends up in a top-three position, and his results this season alone speak for themselves: 

Joggie and his son Niekie fly in a strong club (around 40 members) which itself participates in a strong union (Vaal Posduif Unie) with 120-160 members and in a second club, The Specialist Club with the same number of members. 

·          This year they came second in their club (in which the top 3 places were well ahead of the rest of the field on points). 

·          They got first place in the young bird category at the specialist club level.

·          They ended sixth in the VAAL POSDUIF UNIE.

·          They won six races in the (VPU) club, two of which were Union races.

·          They won two more races in the Specialist club.

Joggie maintains that there are 3 aspects to creating and maintaining a successful pigeon racing career:

1.      Good pigeons.  Joggie breeds most of his own birds but brings some new blood in from outside, notably from Andre Carelson the year before last (who’s birds Joggie felt made a very positive contribution) and Boet Badenhorst (VPU Union Champion).

2.      A good loft with good ventilation. Joggie has installed an automated ventilation system and he feels this is an integral part in the health of his birds and hence his success.

3.      A good treatment program.  We will now focus on this point in detail.

Joggie and Niekie’s emphasis is really on building immunity and resistance to disease rather than disease control.  This makes sense because if you have birds with strong immunities, you won’t have to worry about disease control.  They believe that Medpet’s Medimune and Entero-Plus is the core to an immunity program, making it an invaluable product in his treatments.  Medpet has a strong ethos of advancement through science and research, and hence supported them in the experiment he carried out (by providing him with some of the product).

The experiment – The Peters all seasons immunity mixture recipe:
- 3 parts Entero-Plus (Medpet)
- 1 part Medimune (Medpet)
- ½ part Viroban (Medpet)
- ½ part Spirulina (Dova)
- ½ part garlic powder (imported from Germany)
- ¼ part aloe powder (Alcare)

The results of the experiment were that it was highly effective in building a strong immunity system for the birds that were on the program.  This season many people had problems with young bird disease and respiratory disease, but the Peters Lofts experienced none of these problems. Their birds remained healthy.  It is unlikely that it is a mere co-incidence that they specifically had their birds on an immunity program.  And as you can see by his race results above, you are far more likely to get winning results from a healthy bird than an unhealthy one!

Joggie is a very much independent individual, and as a respected contributor to the pigeon fancier’s knowledge base, he remains impartial and does not align himself with any particular brand or product.  Whilst Joggie does not follow the specific Medpet racing program, he does use a number of the Medpet products, such as Mediworm, Cankerex-Plus (with excellent results during the last racing season), Premolt, Medistatin, Longstim & Lewerstim. Mediworm is his preferred-choice de-wormer because it is broad spectrum.  He believes that Medpet’s two greatest strengths are:

1.              He respects the scientific approach adopted by Medpet because he feels that science and research are the correct ways to go about developing effective products. 

2.              He feels that Medpet provides the core for an effective immunity program.

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 Johan Boshoff

Nick Muller, a well known fancier and breeder introduced the Medpet program to Johan, a relatively “new” fancier on 13 June 2005. In Johan’s own words:
“At the start of the 2005 racing season, I had no specific pigeon racing method or program. Needless to say by the second week my pigeons arrived late from the races and on the 11th of June I managed a 29th position on the one race, and 25 minutes late on the other (both short distances less than 300 kg’s).

On the morning of 11 June, while tossing pigeons at Koppies, I met Mr Nic Muller from Pretoria and we talked about pigeons in general. That same afternoon my pigeons arrived late and I decided to call Mr Muller on Monday, 13 June for help. His first question was “What program are you on?” I had no choice but to be honest and asked him for help.

Mr. Muller’s first advice was to get the Medpet program. I had an old (2002) program and that same afternoon I bought 8 Medpet products and started on the Medpet program the very next day – 14 June 2005. Four days later I flew a 4th and 19th Position in the Club. The week after that, eleven days after I started with the Medpet program, I was 8th, 11th, 15th and 26th in the one race and I won the Baby race and also came 12th in the same race. At this stage I was 12th overall on points out of 15 flying members in the club, and suddenly I was a lot more positive about the season. This was just the beginning of what I would later found to be one of my best racing seasons ever.

I stuck to the MEPET program and would like to share some of my achievements with you:

·          Won 6 races during 2005, the most I have ever won and just 3 less than the club champion

·          Best Bird and Best Old Bird 2005, SA TRPF 03 17378 won the Middelburg open race and was best in the club for 2005, A first for me!

·          Goldwing Trophy 2005, A first for me!

·          Ladies Nominations Trophy 2005

·          Six longest races trophy, best performance over the longest six races of the 2005 season

·          Long distance champion 2005

·          Overall 2nd in the club, after finishing 8th the previous year with only one win for the season, it was quite an achievement ending second behind the Club Champion

I can truly say that from the day that I met Mr Nic Muller and the day he advised me to start using MEDPET products, my racing season changed drastically and I can assure you that I am looking forward to the 2006 season. Thank you Medpet for a wonderful range of pigeon products and for putting e back on the racing track.”

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Nic Muller word klub kampioen van Benzing

In Nic se eie woorde:

“Die volgehoue voedings-, afrigtings- en gesondheidsprogram wat ons gevolg het, het gedurende 2004 verseker dat ons klub kampioen van Benzing-Klub in Pretoria kon word. Baie dankie aan almal wat ‘n bydrae daartoe gelewer het o.a. Nico Muller en Medpet. Nico het omvattende statistiek tov die program bygehou. Medpet het dit moontlik gemaak dat ons op gereelde basis die duiwe kon neem vir toetse tov krop-kanker, inwendige parasiete en voorkoms van Malaria. Dit was gevolglik moontlik om deurgaans voorkomend te behandel, wat nie slegs goedkoper was nie maar ook die duiwe bevoordeel het.

Ons het die volgende toekennings ontvang:

·          Langafstand Kampioen (ope)

·          Ope Reeks Kampioen

·          Algehele Langafstand Kampioen

·          Klub Kampioen 2004

·          Derby Wenner

·          Vlugte oor 700 km kampioen

·          Meeste punte laaste 3 wedvlugte

·          PSPU – Derby Wenner

·          PSPU – Colesberg 2 wenner

·          PSPU – Langafstand wenner

·          Gauteng Noord Kleure