Hello Everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe.
Everything is going great at the River Valley Roundup Race. We continue to receive birds each week. We should have over 200 birds this next week with many more to come.
We have close to 100 birds fully lofted at this time and have more birds finishing their trap-training and preparing to go outside for open-loft soon.
We have only lost 3 birds so far. We have contacted the owners for replacements.
We made a few changes to our website. We are hoping to add weekly short video clips in a couple of weeks.
Although we advertised "Highpoint Bird" Prizes for this year, we are going to change over to "Average Speed" Prizes. Each approach has it's good and bad points, but after 6 years of "Highpoint Bird" we will try "Average Speed" for a while.
That's all for now. Good luck to all!
Bobby
(479) 719-3995
Hello Everyone. We are sending Steve Helfrich's 2 birds back on Monday. If anyone else has birds here they want back, let me know asap.
Good luck and stay safe.
Hello Everyone. Almost all the birds have been sent back! We should be able to send the very last birds next Monday.
A number of Breeders who won money on the 225 Mile Race have received their checks. The rest of the checks for the 225 Mile Race money winners are going in the mail daily. All will be mailed by the end of the week. These checks include any money won on any other races. Most wanted the return bird shipping deducted. We had to mail their birds to know what amount to deduct. Depending on where the birds go, the amount varies considerably. We have no way to predetermine the amount.
I will begin sending checks to the money winners on the 330 Mile Race (that didn't win money on the 225) next week.
Several breeders requested we deduct the perch fees for the birds they will be sending soon and we have.
Once again, thank you to everyone!
We are shipping out birds every Monday and Tuesday. I will contact each breeder as we randomly get to your birds. You do not need to contact me.
A few birds are arriving for the next race series. We will be taking birds until June 15th. It WILL save you a lot of money to use the new lower profile boxes.
Thank you to everyone for sending great birds to work with! Even though it is a lot of work, time, energy, and effort, I must confess I am a little sad to see this series come to an end. I wish we could keep going a little longer! It gives me great joy to see pigeons in excellent health and condition as they perform in an outstanding manner on race day. They are the most amazing animal athletes on the planet!
We will begin separating each breeders birds on Sunday to ship back on Monday and Tuesday. As we do, we will contact those breeders to see what they want to do with their birds. I will simultaneously total winnings, race fee deductions for those that requested it, and shipping charges, and mail out checks. If you have won $600 or more you will need to send a W-9.
The USPS has doubled their charges. Bird box companies are currently making boxes that are about 12" high and flat on top. This is supposed to lower the price of shipping. Fedex ships live animals and we will be contacting them to get more information. Some people cut the old-style boxes down to make them flat. The USPS is not supposed to accept these boxes as they say the integrity of the box has been compromised. Not all clerks are aware of this yet and some will accept them.
Thursday is the day! There's not a better day for another week or longer.
The forecast is calling for sunny skies and tailwinds. It's a rare day when there are no fronts or systems anywhere along the flight path, unless that changes in the next 36 hours.
We plan to release the birds at 7:45 in Plainview Texas. This increases the distance to about 415 miles.
Please check the race list to confirm all the information for your birds is correct.
If you plan to be here for the race please let me know.
Good luck to everyone!
Hello Everyone. We have more entries for our 400 Mile Race!
We now have 131 birds going to the race and 81 birds in the prize pool! That gives us $8100 for prizes. The payout is as follows:
1st - $2000 6th - $600
2nd - $1650 7th - $400
3rd - $1300 8th - $250
4th - $1000 9th - $100
5th - $800
We will give a Free Perch to the last bird home on the day-of-toss.
We have the basket list posted. We still have to add 5 birds for Callahan Loft and will do that later today.
We are watching the weather. It's been over 2 weeks since we flew the 330 mile race. There has only been 1 good day to fly the 400 from start to finish. That day was predicted to have strong cross winds but for some reason that didn't happen. We can only go by the forecast.
Hello Everyone! Good news! We have 126 birds going to the 400 Mile Race.
74 birds have been entered into the prize pool. That gives us $7400 for prizes.
The payout will be as follows:
1st - $2000 5th - $700
2nd - $1600 6th - $500
3rd - $1200 7th - $300
4th - $900 8th - $200
The last bird home on the day-of-toss will receive a free perch for our next season.
The rules are the same as all of our races.
The first decent day we will fly the race.
Good luck to all!
We have about 125 birds going to the 400 Mile Race.
We have almost $7000 in the prize pool.
Right now the 400 Mile Race payout is as follows:
1st - $1900 5th - $600
2nd - $1500 6th - $400
3rd - $1200 7th - $200
4th - $900 8th - $100
We have 105 birds going to the 400 Mile Race so far. We will most likely get more.
We have about $6000 in the prize pool right now and we will possibly get more soon.
We are watching the weather for the first acceptable day.
