I don't think Kilkenny Duke was a small useless pud. His semen came over when the popularity of the straight Iriish cattle was winding down. I remember seeing some Duke calves in Nebraska, and they were very thick with pretty good quarters. They were considered too small for that day, which probably suggests to me that they might fit in with some of the bloodlines used today. I don't think he got used much because the breed had turned to chasing another fad when his semen got here.
I saw Janell's Cavalier a couple times and I would be very surprised if he was an 8.5 frame. When he won the National show in Edmonton, the biggest complaint I heard about him was that he was too small.He certainly wasn't the biggest framed bull there that day. I don't ever hearing what frame score he was, so I'm not going to guess. I also saw him at Cody Ice's a couplee years later and he didn't strike me as being a big bull. He may have weighed 2100- 2200 on a good day in breeding condition.lHe had great feet and legs and moved like a cat. He had adequate muscle but was not a heavily muscled bull. As was mentioned his pedigree has some Irish in it, but it is in the background. He has Duke of Dublin, Irish Titan and Dividend all back in the 3rd and 4th generations. Irish Titan was an Irish bull born in Canada and he was sired by Deerpark Improver 52nd. His dam was an Irish cow that I raised here, and she was pretty moderate framed. I wish I had some semen from Titan now, as I think he would really work with some of todays cattle.