The importance of bloodlines bred for the gaff
It's a pity that all these wins were a thing of the past. These happened when cockfighting was still legal in the states. Now with the new anti-cockfighting laws throughout the US, these wonderful bloodlines are in danger of being assigned to oblivion.
We reckoned that if we could bring them into the Philippines, we could help by keeping these bloodlines alive and kicking in their new home.
We are referring to three DW (Steel Magnolia) bloodlines.
DW, a famous breeder in his place, is not that popular to Filipino game fowl aficionados, maybe, because he fought only in gaff competitions. However, one man knows too well that DW’s roosters could as well win in the long knife. “Indeed, they had been winning consistently in the long knife,” he said, “including in the Philippines.”
Unfortunately, those winning with DWs bloodline in the Philippines are not making noise about it. Maybe, it’s their nature to be humble in victory or maybe, they just don’t like to call attention to winning lines, they discovered.
This man, who knows DW’s bloodlines well, out of friendship, guided us to a potential gold mine. On our part, we also did our homework. We searched the web and indeed we found out that one of DW’s bloodlines, his shuffler, really has some good reviews and commands sizable following.
So, clearly, despite DW fought only in gaff as what our friend told us, his bloodlines are versatile as they also won in the short and long knife, notwithstanding the fact they are not bred for these types of fighting. To us, versatile bloodlines are gold waiting to be stricken.
Why? Of course that means they are complete and all around fighters because a bloodline with only a few strengths may win in one but not in all different types of weapons. DW’s bloodlines are like martial art masters who are dangerous and can kill with any weapon at hand.
Hence, we heeded our friend’s advice, we immediately set our eyes not only on the DW shuffler but also his roundhead and Albany. Losing no time, RB Sugbo got all three of the DW bloodlines. Thanks friend, Vency Maranan of New Jersey.
We have high hopes for all the three DW bloodlines, but we are most excited with the shuffler. First, the shuffler, being a brown red, dark legged, and straight comb, can sure perk up the genotype of our own blakliz lines, without disturbing the phenotype. Then, because when we viewed the internet we found many excellent reviews about the DW shuffler, including some from the Philippines and Mexico. Finally, because when we sparred the brood cock that DW himself insisted that we should use, we saw that it can execute excellently the fighting traits we are interested in.
We consider the DW bloodlines as old bloodlines as they are bred mainly for gaff fighting. Newer versions are bred for the long knife. Thus DW bloodlines have uncompromised gameness and extreme endurance which most new bloodlines lack. Some famous modern bloodlines are losing grip on some important traits, as they are mainly bred for the LK.
Another theory in favor of breeding back to these old reliables is that the genetic composition of these old bloodlines, are very much different from the new ones we have today. If we breed one new bloodline to another new bloodline the genetic makeup of the resulting offspring is not much different. On the other hand, breeding new to old will result in more genetic diversity. Breeders and geneticists would tell us that greater diversity in a gene pool is desirable. This increases the chances of a nick. (By Rey Bajenting, RB Sugbo Gamefowl Technology)
Read the E-book “Simple Breeding Ideas That Work” by Rey Bajenting. Free to members of Suregain Club.
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