Matching good breeders is definitely a good thing to know how to do. You could unknowingly keep producing the exact qualities you don’t want in a racing pigeon. And of course you can produce exactly what you want if you know what you’re doing.
You want to find extremely successful racing pigeons to start with. Some who have won many races, long and short distances. When you breed those two together, you have a very good chance of producing another successful pigeon. Of course this is sometimes easier said than done, nothing is perfect so if a successful pigeon now has some sort of disease you don’t want to breed that pigeon. As an example that is. Some pigeons will have great speed, but no stamina. So they can’t participate in any long-distance running. So you’ll want to bring in a successful long-distance runner, whether he’s the fastest or not. As long as they can run really long distances well. That way, you bring genes for long-distance running along with having your original speed gene. Pairing your pigeons with each other will bring a mix of good qualities, or make the good qualities better, if done correctly.
The more you breed with successful and healthy pigeons, the stronger your loft will be. Imagine having a good size loft, and all of them can win races. You’ll be near the top of your club and win tons of races, and probably a lot of money too! Once you get to this point, you can really pinpoint the exact genes and skills you want in your racing pigeons. You will be able to get calm and focused pigeons as an example. If you want to maintain speed and strength in your loft, you may want to consider line breeding, which means you will be crossing directly related pigeons. It’s something we humans despise, but for pigeon racing, you can take yourself to the top if done correctly. Line breeding is something you don’t want to do all the time, but doing it periodically to keep good genes within your loft is a great idea.
That is why it is so important to learn about the breeding of homing pigeons. You should have a goal of what your result should be in your loft, whether you specialize in long range or short range, or both. What skills, genes do you want to have. Since the sport of pigeon racing is growing, there is more competition, so it is better to be prepared! So go ahead and do your due diligence and also learn about cattle selection and breeder selection. It is important to learn about both, as well as the different types of reproduction. Everyone plays a part in producing a champion racing loft, which will earn you lots of money, prizes, trophies and most importantly success!
Good luck!