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Old German Owls – Page 34 – Purebred PIGEON
B
reed of
the
I
ssue
- O
ld
G
erman
O
wl
OGO at the 2019 NYBS
By Leonard Kuzminski
T
his past year at the National Young Bird show held in
Louisville, Kentucky we had a total entry of 184 Old
German Owls. Wow!
That’s what I have to say about that – the previous year
2018 we had 170 OGOS. The numbers are growing and the
quality is improving. The birds that I’ve seen the last four years
have grown to classes that have 29 red bar young hens and
young cocks. Blue bar class – 20 young hens and young cocks;
10 silver bar hens; red shield – 18 young hens and young cocks;
blacks 6 young birds in the black class; red check – 11 young
birds; and spread ash also had 11 in its class. These are just to
name a few of the bigger classes. There were other classes that
are smaller but quality is still there. AOC, grizzle, and brown
are making a comeback with breeders like Kelly Baumgarter,
Jeff Wozniak, Len Kuzminski, Joe Granger, and Brian Elwell of
Minnesota. All are getting these birds in the brown classes up
in the lineup to be competitive with the blue bars and red bars
in the near future. I also see the black class turning into a lot
bigger class with Bob Kuzminski, Vic Cline, Jennifer Trottner,
Len Kuzminski and Joe Granger working on black.
Our judging in 2019 was done by Mike Spencer of Utah.
Mike is a double Master Breeder with an NPA Master Breeder
for Old German Owls and Master Breeder in the Old German
Owl Club.
Judging was on its way at 9 a.m. in the morning with 184
OGOs to judge and Kelly Baumgarter handling the books. Six
hours later after the dust had settled and with the color class
winners up for the final lineup, the crowd was wondering, who’s
going be the 2019 champ? Slowly as each bird is eliminated
compared to the next bird, Mike asked how many reserves do
we need at this point. We needed five.
Mike took the red bar hen in his hand and said this will be
Champion, nice compact cobby-in body – a Bill Henderson bird.
The red bar cock comes up for a second look – then he
First Reserve - Spread Ash Cock
#1506 - Leonard Kuzminski
Second Reserve - Spread Ash Cock #1581
- Leonard Kuzminski
Fourth Reserve - Silver Check Hen #1592 -
Leonard Kuzminski
Third Reserve - Blue Bar Hen #177 -
Bill Henderson
Fifth Reserve - Black #2096 -
Bob Kuzminski
Champion - Red Bar Hen #172 - Bill Henderson