News and Updates
May-16-2022
RACE UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Your birds had a successful Activation Race. Most were able to navigate their way home. They came home very broken up and the groups came from all directions. It was a very good toss for the birds. There was a large group that came in around 11:45 am, about 2.5 hours after the first birds arrived. If you had a bird in that group, keep your eye on them. Some of those birds will do something on the final two races. They came in looking like they just flew for an hour around the loft.

Please get your Entry Fee money in. Remember we pay out 100% of the prize money.

Send us a check or use PayPal. Please use the friends and family option. highdesertyc@gmail.com

We are looking at running the 200 mile race Friday or Saturday depending on the weather.


Kenny and Corey
May-13-2022
ACTIVATION RACE High Desert Breeders,

We are planning on having the activation race this Saturday, 5/14. Spring weather continues to make it challenging for road training. We were aiming at doing another trainer today but the winds were to high for our liking. Looking at the upcoming weather and how the birds are doing we think its best to get the series underway. This group of birds is doing really well and are ready. After feeding and cleaning their feces for a year it is nice to have the races begin. 

Your birds did great from the 75 mile trainer on Tuesday. They have a lot of mountains to navigate through until they get to our valley. We had to wait for it to stop snowing to kick the birds out. Always nice to have them fly in different types of weather.

Once your team has made it back from the activation race please get your money to us ASAP. We will be running the 200 mile race in a very timely manner. 

Thanks to all who have sent and best of luck in the series! 

Kenny and Corey
May-08-2022
TRAINING UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Happy Mother's Day! Starting to wonder if Spring is really here as we had snow this morning. Yesterday we had high winds, today snow, and tomorrow high winds. If the forecast holds we will get them down the road again on Tuesday.

Other than fun spring weather the birds are coming home really well from our 40 mile station. We still have a large group that comes home and then goes tripping for a long while. If you see your birds coming in an hour or two late with others, that is a good sign. The last toss we did from the 40 mile station, we were able to watch the hens for about 10 minutes as they followed the highway and then broke for the loft. The birds are really coming into form and looking sharp. If the next few tosses go well we plan on doing the 125 mile activation race at weeks end. 

We are accepting birds for next season. As a reminder we will be able to post next years birds on Wincompanion  once these season is over. So if you have sent birds you won't see them on Wincompanion quite yet.

Until the next update.............

Kenny and Corey
May-02-2022
TRAINING UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Beautiful rainy day at the loft today. Over the next few days the weather continues to be hit or miss for road training. Tuesday we are projected to have some snow in the AM. We will get in a few more 40 mile tosses and then get in a couple of 75 mile tosses before the 125 mile activation race. Birds are looking great. This has been a very fun group to train. 

This last toss was a great educational trainer for them in navigating home. From the 40 mile spot there is a wide range of hills in front of them. If they go to the east of the hills it shoots them right into where we have been training them to come. If they go to the west, it obviously shoots them to the west and if they don't navigate correctly it will shoot them way past our loft. The first toss from 40 miles they went east and had no problems coming home. Then yesterday they went west based on how broken up and the direction they came home. All the birds but the extremely late birds still had lots of spunk. Todays deluge of water has made it harder for the rest of the birds to make their way home. A few trainers like these every year are great to have. Gets the birds thinking rather than just playing follow the leader.

Just a reminder this week we start accepting birds for next year. May is a great time to ship if you have birds ready as we generally have cooler weather. 

That is all for now. Hope everyone is doing well. Any questions please reach out. 

Kenny and Corey
Apr-22-2022
TRAINING UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Overall tosses having been going well for your birds. The birds are coming out of the trailer nicely and breaking for home quickly. We have a lot of birds from these short tosses that will loft fly or than go tripping. Which to us those are all great signs. Your bird has to love to fly to get through the final two races of this series. 

The last 10 mile toss we did with 22 groups. All the groups took off straight for home minus one group. That group decided to head East instead of North and just kept going like they knew where they were going. The first toss from 20 miles there is always a large group of birds every year that will blow on by the loft. Happened again this year. Those two tosses are where we had the biggest losses. The good thing is those birds that made it home from those groups will hopefully fly smarter. 

Birds will be staying in today and more than likely tomorrow due to high winds. It is our goal to push the birds during the preseason as much as we can. Unfortunately the weather doesn't always cooperate. It is looking like once we hit Sunday we might have a really nice week for the first time all year. If all goes well the Activation Race will be the first or second week of May. We will see how the birds progress. 

Thanks,

Kenny and Corey
Apr-12-2022
ROAD TRAINING UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Birds are doing great so far on the few tosses we have had. They are coming out of the trailer nicely and taking off for home like we want to see. Next toss we will be 10 miles and in the hills. With the tosses from the hills, the birds tend to do great. It is the 20 miles toss which is when we start to go around the hills, that always gives the OL birds a good challenge. We will see what happens this year. 

We are experiencing lovely weather this week. Thought it was January again. Birds will be down the road once we have a nice day. We really like what we are seeing from this group. They should progress very nicely as we increase the miles. 

Best of luck to those of you that club race! Old bird season is the best season. 

Kenny and Corey
Mar-31-2022
LOFT FLYING High Desert Breeders,

The longest winter ever in our neck of the woods is finally over and your birds have been out the last 3 weeks loft flying. Started off easy the first week and then the second week we did lots of double loft flight days to get some extra wing time. This week all the birds are up loft flying for over an hour. They are coming together and getting closer to being ready to go down the road. Weather over the next week is looking okay. The biggest issue we always face in the spring is excessive winds in our valley. Been nice to get the birds back outside and see them out exploring and enjoying what they are bred to do. 

Until the next update..............

Kenny and Corey
Mar-04-2022
QUICK UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Overcast day out at the loft. Getting closer to having this never ending winter weather being over. Had some really cold nasty days over the past week. Have a storm rolling in this weekend and maybe one mid-week. Then hopefully we will have more consistent nice weather.

Birds are looking good. They are ready to start loft flying. Once birds are out we will post weekly loft flights so you can track your birds. And once we start down the road we will post every road training.

Hope all is well and you are enjoying breeding and sending out to OLR's. 

Kenny and Corey
Feb-18-2022
WINTER UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Another nasty cold, snowy, windy day out at the loft. It has been a long cold winter here. The weather should start shaping up in the next few weeks to start getting the birds back out. It will be nice to get the birds back outside and into shape. We have a lot of birds of prey hanging around the loft currently. Under normal conditions birds of prey at the loft are rarely an issue. Once the snow in the south hills is gone that should clear up our hawk problem. Road training will more than likely start in April with the races in May. This time of the year always goes fast. Best of luck in your breeding programs! 

Kenny and Corey
Jan-28-2022
2023 INTAKE UPDATE High Desert Breeders,

Still cold and snowy here in our neck of the woods. Been a very cold past month. Birds are doing well-consuming lots of feed and defecating at extraordinary levels. The forecast has lots more cold weather!

As you are all breeding and thinking of where to enter birds this next year. We just wanted to let you know that our website is updated with information for the 2023 race series. You can go here to look at our rules. Just a reminder if you haven't sent here in a while is that this is a yearling race. So we are intaking the next year's birds and finishing up our yearling race series in the same time frame. 

No big changes to our rules. The perch fee and entry fee will stay the same. A few things that make us different are our free perches. We will continue to offer free perches for paid birds that are lost prior to training. We also payout 100% of the entry fee. Most races take anywhere from 10-20% of your entry fee money. To accommodate the smaller boxes we are now offering 1 backup bird for every 5 paid birds. So send 6 for the price of 5. You won't get rich at our race but you will find out the type of birds you have. Our final races are flown in the hot Nevada terrain. In terms of testing your birds, not many races out there fly in the heat. The last change is if the birds and weather allow, the final race might become a 400-mile race. We have strayed away from the 400-mile station as it is in a wide-open valley and if the birds take the wrong route the mountains can lead them toward Salt Lake City or towards Oregon. The last year we flew the 400 mile race for the One Loft birds we didn't get a day bird back because they headed up towards Salt Lake. 2023 will be the 13th year of the High Desert Yearling Classic. 

Any questions please reach out. Best of luck in your breeding programs. 

Kenny and Corey
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