Last Stop Loft

06/13/2026

Just back from a week of vacation! Spent the week with our entire family in Branson Missouri! Nice to get away but also nice to get back home. Tough 300 last week.....the first birds were nearly 9 1/2 hours on the wing on a 90 degree day. We were blessed to win our club race and place 4th in the combine. This week the birds are racing 500 miles.....the weather in the morning at release looks to be clear and cool with a swirling wind. However, a few miles into the race, the winds shift to a head wind and become pretty strong with a few possible pop up showers as they get closer to home. I wasn't here for basketing so not sure what our club sent but I suspect many of the guys sent a very small team this week. Hopefully with the North wind the weather stays a bit cooler than it has been and the birds will persevere and make it on the day. I am planning to visit the loft tomorrow and sort through a few of our 3rd round youngsters and see what we have. Received another 4 pallets of feed while I was away.....I am very pleased with the quality and cleanliness of the Lizzy Mae feeds and the birds are performing very well on it. Every aspect of the business is first rate and I highly recommend trying it if you haven't already! I won't be able to stick around tomorrow and watch the birds return but I'm hoping we have a couple good ones out there......we'll know soon enough!

06/05/2026

Managed to put 5 birds in the top 10 of our combine 400 last week.....unfortunately, it was 5th through 10th. The weather was a bit unsettled and it was a somewhat tougher day with the winning speed just a little over 1100 YPM. One of our new members topped the combine and one of our longtime members finished a close second.....always good for club morale when the wins get spread around! Trained the birds from 50 miles yesterday with a little light rain scattered across their path home.....they made great time and hopefully are ready to roll this weekend. At this point in the season there becomes a fine line between when the birds need trained and when they need rest.....we have a 300 this week followed by a 500 the next, then another 300 followed by a 400 and 600 double race weekend to end the season. We don't have the birds set up ideally like we'd like this old bird season but the 12' X 16' planned addition to the loft should really help put us in a better position for success going into the 2027 Old Bird season. For now, we'll keep doing our best to remain competitive each week.

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05/28/2026

Got the birds down the road 50 miles yesterday.....They looked really sharp and rocketed out of the crates! Hopefully we'll have a few ready to go for this weeks 400. The weather forecast looks like it may be a fairly tough day with headwinds and possible showers across the course......hopefully they get a good start and persevere through whatever they encounter. Several people have asked me if I think the new energy feed mix is making a big difference. The race mix we are feeding now is basically the same mix I've used the last few years....but, now it comes in a bag ready to feed instead of me using a base mix and adding another 6 or 7 individual grains. The new mix contains green peas which I did not include before in my mix and is missing the h**p which I used in the previous mix. We add the h**p as needed but otherwise feed the Energy right out of the bag. It contains plenty of fat and carbs needed on race day but also provides a sufficient amount of protein as they are not only competing but are also molting as the race season progresses. At this time of year, the birds are only dropping one flight at a time but I believe some flyers are so concerned with loading the birds up on energy producing grains, they forget about the new feathers being grown and the need for protein. The successful flyer is the one who observes everything going on with the birds and adjusts accordingly.......we try to be that guy!

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05/24/2026

Had a few of the members from our local car club visit the loft on Monday. They had been wanting to see the birds and especially the babies. We were there for over an hour answering questions and explaining the process of raising/racing the birds. They left with a greater appreciation and understanding of what we do. Never pass up an opportunity to promote our sport and bring awareness to the general public! Of course, we then stopped and had a famous burger and fries from Bob's Bar! Our race last week from 400 miles was cancelled due to weather. Trained the birds on Wednesday from 50 miles in preparation for this weeks 250 mile race. They didn't even make a complete circle and darted for home.....they looked sharp and ready to go! The weather at release yesterday was awesome, clear ,calm and 43 degrees.......650 birds from 22 lofts competing. We were blessed to win both the club and combine this week with a few birds at the top of the sheet. Nearly every bird on the team went this week since last weeks race was cancelled........Not sure what we'll have ready for this weeks 400 but we'll get them down the road and see what we can do. Always a challenge to get them ready for this week's race but also planning for the weeks ahead! Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend!!

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05/14/2026

Trained from 50 miles yesterday.....Absolutely beautiful morning! The birds did well and are starting to shape up. I think the new feed mix along with the weather finally warming up is huge. We have a 400 mile race this week and as of now, the weather looks a bit iffy....Dry but pretty strong head winds at release with the winds increasing as the day progresses with a good chance of thunder storms later in the afternoon/evening. You can view several different weather sites and get completely different opinions.....Not sure it's much better than the old days when we knew nothing! My thought has always been ship accordingly and when in doubt, error on the side of the birds best welfare. Stopped out to the loft last evening and checked out the YB's.....They are looking good and we are just getting them outside and letting them explore the real world! We talked about a plan going forward to add an additional 16' to the loft and use that space as an old bird racing loft......currently the old birds are flown from a separate building and it will be nice to have everything under one roof with running water and a feed room. .....No more carrying water/feed outside through the cold Nebraska Winters! The second round youngsters are all moved into the YB loft and the third rounders are hatched and that will be it for breeding this year........I'm sure both the birds and Corey are ready for a break!

05/11/2026

Got the birds tossed yesterday from 70 miles in preparation for this weeks 400 mile race. Will try and get them at least another 50 miles of roadwork mid-week. We were fortunate to place 5 birds at the top of the sheet in our club yesterday from 250 miles with a winning speed of nearly 1500 YPM. I have not seen the combine results yet but believe we will be a ways down the sheet. The weather was good at release and most of the way home but there were lots of pop-up rain showers developing all around our area the last 75 miles or so. I drove in the light rain for 50 miles or so after releasing the trainers. I believe it is the birds natural tendency to try and fly around the rain causing lost time.....we are looking for the birds with the drive and tenacity to stay on course and push through.....they are few and far between! We will basket for our 400 mile race on Thursday night for a Saturday morning release.....this will be the first time this year that the birds will be away from the loft for two nights. The extended weather forecast looks good for next week with it warming up into the 70's/80's.....hopefully that, along with some roadwork, will allow the birds to come into top form. Really hard to get them into top condition with the temps still dropping into the 30's overnight. Next thing you know.....Summer will be here and I'll be complaining about the heat!

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05/09/2026

Got the birds down the road mid-week for a 50 mile toss. The weather was good and the birds performed as expected. This weeks race is from 250 miles. The weather looks OK and the wind is predicted to be a 5MPH tailwind to start,100 miles into the race it's predicted to switch to a shoulder wind and then to nearly a straight headwind the last 75 miles or so for our club. Our club is on the North end of the combine and we get our fair share of headwinds early in the season......Last weeks tail wind for us was unexpected this time of year but much appreciated! We sent our yearlings and 2 year olds to this race and will prepare our older birds for next weeks 400. Those birds will be tossed from 65 miles or so early in the morning and then trained again from 50/55 miles twice next week, weather permitting. I was planning to be at the loft one night last week but life got in the way......we did get our two youngsters selected to enter into "The Nebraska Pigeon Derby" and they were delivered tonight to Omaha and will be transported to the race from there. Our second round youngsters have been moved to the YB loft and our 3rd round is just hatching......the vast majority of those will be going to other flyers. When this round is weaned, we'll separate the breeders and give them a well deserved rest.........and Corey too! When we merged our lofts, we kept an abundance of breeders as all of my race team became prisoners/breeders.....There were dozens of race winners and A.U. award winners in the group and we decided to give many of them a shot in the breeding loft. Those birds had never raised a baby as my rule has always been.....race 5 years before getting a shot as a breeder. It will be interesting to see how their youngsters stack up against the birds bred from our true breeders. Hopefully there's a good one or two in the bunch!

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05/03/2026

I like this weeks race much better! The weather was better, the preparation was better and the birds were better! Getting them down the road twice this week really improved their condition. We were blessed to score the top 5 positions in both the club and combine. This weeks race included over 550 birds from 24 lofts. It was an easy day for the birds with a winning speed over 1,950 YPM.......After last week.....They deserved it. Unlike years past, all races but our last 400/600, will be singles......I personally liked the double races though it did offer up a challenge on how to prepare/feed for two races from different distances. It should be much easier to prepare for a single race and it won't require the birds to fly as many races during the season. I liked having the shorter races each week as I most often just used them as tune-ups for my distance birds to prepare them for a distance race a bit further down the schedule. It also requires more training miles/time as the birds left home need to be tossed day of the race or the next. Up next week is a 250......Hopefully the weather cooperates and we can get some training in and get them ready to roll!

05/01/2026

After a disappointing performance last week, hopefully we can get back on the right track this week! The weather was a bit more cooperative and, although the wind blew pretty strong out of the North and it was cold and overcast in the mornings, I was able to get the birds tossed from 50 miles twice this week. Corey thought they felt better than they have all year when basketing them yesterday morning so hopefully, that's a good sign! The weather forecast for tomorrows race looks good and hopefully they are correct but we all know how that goes! We have the majority of our young bird team bred for the year......I will be heading out to the loft this weekend and we'll decide which breeders we may take a few 3rd round babies from. We have several new club members that we will help out and if you've inquired about youngsters from me......please reach out and let me know. Always glad to gift a few youngsters to new members to help them get started on the right path. One of the things I'm most proud of about our club is the willingness of our members to help the new guys get started but also continue to help them move up the race sheet! Unfortunately, that's not the way it's done in a lot of clubs around the country and it definitely undermines the growth of our sport. If anyone who follows this page ever has questions or is need of a few youngsters to get started, just send me a message and I'll be glad to help any way I can. This week will be our third YB auction for entry into our auction race this Fall......We will have another auction next week and possibly one more the following week. This years race was open to our club members only but for next year we may kick around the idea of accepting out of area birds......not sure our club is ready for that next step but it's something to think about!

04/26/2026

Second race of the year in the books! Released from 175 miles at 8:30 in the morning and our first bird didn't arrive until a little after 6PM.....In the rain.....nearly 10 hours after release. The Omaha and Lincoln clubs had much better results as their birds missed the majority of the heavy rain and storms and the wind was less of a factor for them. Our combine stretches around 200 miles North to South with our club being on the North end. The prevalent North/ Northwest winds early in the season are always a determining factor in the early part of the race season for our club. The members in our club saw the forecast and shipped accordingly......we sent 37 birds total from 6 lofts with just a few birds returning on the day.....In hindsight, we probably should have just cancelled our club race. The weather this Spring has been a real roller coaster....Hot and sunny one day, ......cold, windy and raining the next. Glad we only shipped 10.....we took it in the shorts this week but thankfully, left the majority of the race team home and will prepare them for the next race. The birds returning from this weeks race will definitely need a little time to recover. Weather permitting, I'll get them down the road a couple times next week and see if we can improve our results a bit. This was the first time having a joint release for these yearlings......that confusion along with the nasty weather made it extremely tough for those inexperienced warriors! Every experience is a learning lesson!

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