Pieter Veenstra

Pieter Veenstra,
a succes story
The success story of the Veenstra family has often been discussed. What Pieter has achieved
over the years can be described as extraordinary. It borders on the unbelievable. If you read
the listings and summaries you can’t do anything but come to the conclusion that we are
talking about one of the world’s best fanciers with a collection of top pigeons out one stock.
Good comes out good is certainly applicable here. A lesson in life from Pieter Veenstra, who
since 1997 has built up his stock and now has a marvellous empire with the very best allround
pigeons.
The basis:
Pieter started developing his pigeon bacillus as a teenager and it later grew into an
International phenomenon. After Pieter held a total auction in 1996 he made a new start in
1997. As said, it was clear to him that good pigeons were an absolute must. Therefore he
went to obtain pigeons from no-one less than Gerard and Cornelis Koopman. A central role
in this was reserved for their ‘Kleine Dirk’ and half-brother ‘ Noble Blue’. Pieter was very
lucky and became owner of probably one of the world’s best sons of ‘Kleine Dirk’ namely
‘ Dirky’(descendants have won a minimum of 96x 1st prizes). But also top pigeons so as
‘Darryl’ and the father of ‘Mr.Blue’, ‘Mr.Surhuizum’ are all responsible for the success of
Pieter Veenstra.
The pigeons from C&G Koopman weren’t the only top buys that Pieter made after 1997.
He also bought pigeons from a local champion which had the noble blood of Louis Van
Loon (Poppel, BE) flowing through their veins. The name of this Fresian Champion; Anton
van der Veen. We are thinking mainly of the cock ‘Superkweker’, he is directly from the
grandmaster Van Loon himself and produced at least 5-provincial winners. Pieter saw this
and bought a now famous daughter from this ‘Superkweker’ and gave her the fitting
name ‘Superkweekster’. She achieved the status of stock hen by Pieter Veenstra as she
is a.o. mother of top- and stock cock ‘Mr Blue’. This super breeder is now already (great)
grandfather of at least 58 x 1st prize winners and various (inter)national Ace birds.
The toughest competition in the Netherlands is Wie Heeft Ze Beter (WHZB), Pieter
recognised this and over the years bought the best, whatever the cost or effort. Think
of pigeons so as ‘Terminator’ (1st Nat. Ace bird Extreme middle distance), ‘Phoenix’ (1st
Nat. Ace bird Middle distance), ‘Gladiator’ (1st Nat. Ace bird Extreme middle distance)
etc. Noteable is that normally not all purchases mix well with a pigeon stock. This proved
that Pieter had a unique stock of pigeons as the gross of the purchases mixed well. They
are then pigeons which cross easily and are often of added value as there are numerous
National Ace birds and winners of a.o. this tough WHZB competition.
Another important introduction came from Dirk Van Dyck (Zandhoven, BE), he supplied
Pieter with a top breeding hen. This hen, called ‘ Diamond Lady’, is a full sister of ‘Golden
Lady’. ‘Diamond Lady’ is just as good, we find her in the entire Veenstra-line. In both 1st-2nd
and 3rd generation.
With this combination of pigeons he challenged the weekly races until 2001, from
Surhuisterveen, a place in Friesland. He booked many victories and titles. NPO-victories,
Teletext-notations, National Ace bird titles and more were raced from this location which
in 2001 was exchanged for a beautiful heritage ‘De Grenshoeve’, also in Friesland. Then the
Veenstra family decided to settle in the Drachtstercompagnie. For a long time they lived
in an old ‘dilapidated’ farmhouse, whilst the pigeons resided in a beautiful pigeon castle.
Everything takes time, the new location, but also the new build up as all the racing pigeons
were sold when they moved house. Luckily the sublime breeding stock offered some
security as it took just 2 years for Pieter to provide opposition at the highest level achievable
at National and International level.
The standard-bearer in the racing lofts in the first years was a marvellous blue cock called
‘Mr.Blue’. In 2003 and 2004 he won no less than 13x prize 1:100 and 32x prize 1:10. This
resulted in the national titles: 1st National Ace cock W.H.Z.B 2004 and 3rd National Ace cock
W.H.Z.B. 2003. In 2005 this class pigeon was given a well-earned extra large breeding box.
With this Pieter Veenstra would finally lay the foundation for the current prominent stock of
Veenstra-pigeons.
The new generation: ‘Da Vinci x ‘Special Blue’
It may seem bold to say but we must really ask whether or not this is the best breeding
couple in the world. In 2008 Pieter decided to pair these 2 pigeons with each other and with
this he put 2 Veenstra basis lines together. ‘Da Vinci’ (1st NPO Ablis against 7.946 pigeons)
is namely a son of ‘Dirky’ x ‘Daughter Phoenix’… Partner ‘Special Blue’ is just as good, she
is namely a daughter of ‘Mr Blue’ x ‘Yzra’ (= Daughter Kannibaal). We could say the crème
de la crème of the global pigeon world. In just 4 years this super couple produced 1st prize
winners and Ace birds in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation. This couldn’t be quicker or better.
NB All pigeons with a photograph listed in this catalogue will be included in the auctions which end on the 28th &
29th of January 2012.