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| Well, here it is, the end of October and we're settling in to our preparations for breeding season. All our pairs are settled in their new homes and are getting to know each other better. A recent cold snap has the leaves falling from our two ancient pecan trees that serve as shade for our flypens and young stags. Our partners have sent another 50 young cocks and battle stags to the trainer down south so that he can work his majic on them. Another approximately 30 pullets were moved to our home so that they can be raised with plenty of space and feed. Although our space is limited to only three acres available for the birds, it is lightly wooded, to provide ample space to run and grow. We believe that our young birds need plenty of fresh air and sunshine to reach their full potential. Young birds run free and "wild" until they are no longer able to "socialize" with their peers. These young birds are provided with fresh grass and water, all the insects they can catch, as well as a special feed of corn, alfalfa, and protein pellets. This feed is freely distributed and available at all times so that the young birds can supply their growing bodies with whatever they need, whenever they need it. At the present time we also have about 40 young hens running with our "wild bunch". These hens help us to judge when the young stags are ready to be advanced into a training stage. If a stag has a small harem running with him, he'll develope the instincts to fight to protect them. At the age of 14 months (or there about), the stags are trimmed and sent on to training farm where they remain until ready to fight. Our partnership agreement allows breeding at any one of four small farms, each with close to 4 acres of space. Battle stags are sent to the Camacho farm for testing and culling. At that stage the stags are divided into three catagories; breeders, fighters, or culls. Cull stags are disposed of either through use as "dummies" or handler trainer birds. The hens are also culled into breeders and "wild bunch harems". We are currently training two handlers, one for standard fights and one for "powderpuff" fights. In other words, we have the whole family involved in the prosess, 13 year old son and 17 year old daughter are in handler training and are both coming along well. |
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| NOVEMBER Not too much happening this month, other than watching the "couples" do their dance. At the end of the month, we have 4 hens setting, and six more begining to nest and lay. Hopefully by the end of the year we'll see our first chicks and be able to determine what kind of a year we're looking at for 2001. CURRENTLY AT THE TRAINER'S We now have just over 60 bull stags in training, with an additional 25 newly sent 14 month olds. Trevino says all are looking strong, and he doesn't foresee too many more of the original to be culled. We are looking for a stable to start the fighting season of about 50 cocks. March can't come soon enough for all of us. We have produced some truely awesom birds for this fighting season, and can't wait to see the results of the last two years labor finally bear fruit. JUST A QUICK NOTE Recently we celebrated Martin's birthday with a large party complete with mariachi band flown in from Mexico. The band is interested in using one of our birds on the cover of their next CD. It just happens to be one of the first birds that got me into this business, and it's a point of personal pride for me to have raised such a strong and good looking bird from the age of 4 months to adulthood. Thank You Martin for trusting me to raise this bird and I hope that I was able to do all that you hoped for with your champion bloodline. (PSSSSSSST Trevino says he's the best we've got, but don't let Nick know it ) |
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| MARCH Ok...So I got a little behind in the updates... Here's what's been happening. We're well on the way into both breeding and fight season. Our first excursion to the Bayou Club in Lousiana was a great success, even tho we didn't win any money. In January, one of our partners celebrated his 21st birthday with a quick trip. All our cocks were down in the valley, so we decided to carry a show of the JCAT greys. Although they are very young, they show so much potential, we just couldn't wait another year to show them off. These greys are the classy battle cross we've been playing around with locally and they are now proven to be a definite threat to out competitors. We took 6 birds, 5 stags and 1 bull stag, out of the rain and cold. Put them one a ONE DAY CONDITIONING, and carried them to LA. On arrival, one bird refused to be weighed. So that decided for us what our show would be composed of. In other words, that one stag was still so wild we couldn't hold him or keep him still enough to get him on the scales. Our fear was that with a knife tied on he would be uncontrollable in the pit. First pitting was with one of our baby stags. This bird was only 7-8 months old, and our show was in short knife, single edge. The fight lasts approximatly an hour and a half, and we were finally victorious (As well as being the talk of the pit) Word quickly travelled though the building about our little babies. Second pitting called my wife's pet into the ring. Although this bird was the only bull stag we carried, our fear was that he would be not aggressive enough to pull us through. PIT!!! The birds fly! First strike and Baby (My wife's pet name for her favorite) has a broken right leg as well as a deep cut into his chest. The other bird looks to be a sure winner. Dead bird, says everyone watching from the gallery. Nick glances up at my wife and sees the tears flowing as she watches his loosing battle in the main pit. But everyone wasn't counting on the pure game attitude of this particular bird. PIT!! This time Baby strikes back and draws blood, slashing deeply into the other bird. Broken leg notwithstanding, he gamely hangs on as Nick does all in his power to keep his blood loss to a minimum. Now it's a waiting game. The other bird is fading fast, not returning blows as quickly. We're still in the game. Count goes back and forth as the birds loose more blood. Finally, with the count against him, Baby can no longer respond. The other bird is declared the winner, although both birds leave the pit dead. Onlookers watch in amazment as I cuss the worthlessness of this bird. Finally one stops me and says, "I'll take a show of those worthless birds any day. They're better than anything I've got at home." His amazement increases when he hears the age of the two birds and their lack of conditioning before the fight. We leave the club with a standing offer on all our babies and the assurance that the fighting qualities of these birds can't be discounted. |
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