| The
Nouwen - Paesen Strain of Belgium
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 This
is a colony of pigeons that I have admired
for some years and in this series of insights
into various families, strains and dynasties
of the past and the present inevitably
it would take its place so now is the
time for presentation.
Today
under the name of Nouwen- Paesen there
exists a father (Jaak) and son (Dirk)
partnership but at its origins before
the coming of Dirk into the combination
the partnership consisted of Jaak's father
in law Pieter Paesen who died in 1997.
For well nigh 40 years Jaak who is now
in his sixties and Pieter had one of the
best ultra distance lofts of Europe. At
its base lay the world renowned Cattrysse
strain and Nouwen-Paesen really moulded
birds obtained from Van Steenbergen, and
others purchased direct from the famous
brothers of Moere into one of the best
strains of the 20th century and the new
millennium. This arose through a strict
regime of inbreeding their Cattrysse family
over a few decades and then through important
imports of representatives of other families
including Kuypers, Van den Heuvel, Denys
and Ernest, plus others, the Nouwen- Paesen
strain developed.
 Prior
to the death of his father in law the
old combination achieved wonderful results
with their pigeons which included 1st
International Barcelona hens 1971; 1st
National Barcelona hens in 1991; 1st National
St. Vincent hens in 1975; 2nd Champion
Long Distance National 1993; 2nd National
Marathon 1996. In fact the 1996 winner
of the Barcelona International for Willems-Thone
was 75% Nouwen-Paesen strain. While outside
of their native land the strain grew in
reputation world-wide because of numerous
wins by their bloodlines in Europe and
elsewhere. The hen who won 1st International
Barcelona along with a cock rung 68- 5060455
became the base pair of the loft and this
hen also was paired with an inbred Cattrysse
of the famous 'D45' line producing good
racers and breeders. With such a basis
the future was bright as their list of
successes confirm.
 The
combination today still retains the old
title although Dirk has become an important
part of the set up at Grote Brogel in
Limburg. He and his father have built
upon the previous accomplishments of their
pigeons which is a worthy tribute to the
late Pieter Paesen. Their present base
is the great 'Narbonne' and 'Beauty Marseille'.
'The Narbonne' won 17 prizes while racing
including 1st Provincial Narbonne and
2nd Provincial Montauban and as a breeder
sired 1st International Marseille in 1995,
as well as many offspring who have succeeded
at the distance for the loft and others.
In total this strain has totted up 2 X
1st International, 4 X 1st National, 8
X 1st Interprovincial and 15 X 1st Provincial
victories as well as many runners up and
minor positions too many to record in
this article.
 The
partnership are still looking to improve
their bloodlines for they purchased 1st
Belgium National Perpignan 2001
from the owners Conaert and Son. Known
as 'Lady Di' this is an outstanding hen
and will contribute to the continuing
development of the Nouwen-Paesen strain.
In fact 'Lady Di' is of the latter strain
mixed with Kuyper bloodlines. An interesting
point about this hen is that apparently
she received no training or racing as
a young bird.
Because
of language differences in the European
Union we from an English speaking region
can be ignorant of pigeon racing strains
elsewhere therefore it is important that
such strains as the Nouwen- Paesen receive
as much publicity as possible because
unless those strains are available for
breeding purposes then the production
of the thoroughbred of the future will
be hampered. For we have not yet seen
I believe what our thoroughbreds of the
sky are capable of and through proper
and sound breeding enhanced by modern
genetic knowledge we or future fanciers
could be witnessing ultra marathons.
by: Liam O Comain
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