A glimpse at a Peruvian operation

Photo: Rafael Bazan and Marlon Curi along with their Filipino counterparts watch a sparring match at Armor John Gamefarm. Excellent Peruvians at Armor John enjoy more than enough space and fresh air which are best for raising roosters, including Peruvians.

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Along with champion Peruvian breeder Rafael Bazan, I enjoyed the privilege to visit Armor John Gamefarm last month. It was part of my Amigo Rafael’s itinerary during his visit to the Philippines from Jan, 16-21, 2016.

Rafael first attended the World Game fowl Expo on Jan 16 and 17 to grace in person RB Sugbo’s booth as well as that of Armor John GF. Then on Jan. 18-20 he engaged RB Sugbo GT in a pre-agreed technology exchange and sharing designed to formulate a method combining Peruvian and Filipno game fowl management techniques.

The first part of the technology sharing was the visit to Armor John Gamefarm.

Armor John is almost 100% Peruvian farm. There were only a few American fowls left. The large majority were either pure or high grade Peruvian.

Juan “PJ” Petrasanta, the managing partner, explained: “Ours used to be an all-American farm, but now we intend to go on all-Peruvian production.” Juan is the John while US-based Dr. Arnold Moral is the Armor. When they decided to go Peruvian production, a third partner, Australia-based Ricky Jimenez joined them.

Indeed, the trio seemed to be serious in producing excellent Peruvians. Already they got several Peruvian bloodlines, coming from the US, and yet they have imported some more, about a dozen more of other Peruvian bloodlines. This time not from US, but from Peru, the place itself.

Navajeros imported from Peru are several times more expensive. A brood cock could cost P3k USD or even more.

With the impressive array of Peruvian bloodlines at its disposal, Armor John GF surely got the upper hand in Peruvian navajero production in the country. But, not only that, we also saw another advantage in the farm—ample space. Whereas, most Peruvians in the country are raised in small enclosure, Peru style.

However, Rafael admitted that it is because in Peru the climate is mostly cold that's why the brick houses, and also the small enclosures are not necessarily better way to raise Peruvian but it is being done in Peru, partly because it is the tradition, and mainly because of space limitations.

Above all, Armor John’s most potent asset is love of the Peruvian and determination to succeed.

I gained a lot from that visit. It also showed me once more that Peruvians are not all created equal. There are so-called Peruvians and there are real good Peruvians. I saw a lot of the latter at Armor John.

My point here is that Peruvian Navajero is not a breed nor a bloodline, it is a type of chickens that are fought in Peru using the navaja. So as breed, bloodline or strain there is no such thing as pure Peruvian Navajero. When you say pure Peruvian navajero, it’s just like saying this is a pure slasher fowl.

There are pure strains, though, of Peruvian game fowls named after the creators or breeders just as there are pure kelso, hulsey, sweater and hatch.

Therefore, not all Peruvian are created equal. There are Peruvian navajeros that are fit for prestigious torneos in Peru and there are Peruvian navajeros fit only for the side shows.

And there are Peruvian navajeros bred by pseudo-breeders who have not even fought a single navajero match.

Just remember that in the Philippines we are still starting to learn about the navajero. Never mind that some want to sound like experts on the Peruvian, in reality we are all neophytes. Thus, it will all depend on how serious we study and how fast we learn. In the meantime it boils down to the materials that we start with.

It is up to us to take our pick. The range is wide, from Peruvian bred by real Peruvian breeders who fight and excel in tournaments in Peru to those bred by pseudo breeders who love to fight on Facebook.

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