maine winner

[knabe]

this is the kadabra heifer out of a flush of either pannell 4072 or a daughter who was the overall winner for maines.
pic 1 is on the podium
pic 2 is after the class, she always stood very square
3 is among her class, third from right, 9 total in class

she didn't walk in her tracks (back toes hit the front heel tracks), but was very smooth in her gait with nice flex in her joints.

in general, the maines were fresh

 

[AAOK]

Real nice looking Kadabra heifer.  She has the Kadabra look other than being just a tick shorter in the neck than most.  I'm guessing the Dam is a PB making her a 3/4?  She would make a very good jackpot heifer in Oklahoma/Texas.

Dan

 

[afhm]

I'm not a big Kadabra fan but she would make a nice additionto the herd.

 

[CAB]

  Very typical Kadabra. Moderate in stature, hairy, fairly well extended, and deep ribbed. Should make good mothers. Quite a few people are getting along well using him on 1st calf heifers in our area with success becase of how anguler they are up front. Biggest rap on the Kadabras is that some are slow growers, but some show folks seem to like slow growers. There are some that do grow very well also, it's just what you hear most often about his calves. Cab

 

[afhm]

The biggest problems I have had with Kadabra's are their structural soundness and lack of lower hindquarter.  They have great hair.

 

[AAOK]

Kadabra seems to work best on Large Framed, High Volume cows.  At least that has been my experience.

 

[chambero]

We had several Kadabra calves born last year.  I'll second the concern over structural issues.  My "best" looking baby either got stepped on or his shoulder locked up at about 90 days of age.  He died.  I never noticed anything beforehand, so it may well have been an injury.  The front legs on another steer (again - pretty nice looking) really began to turn out at about 6 months of age.  Enough he got the boot back to the pasture and now resides in a feedlot.  All of that being said, we kept three really nice heifers.  My son is showing one.  She moves around great, but is starting to "cow hock" a little too much on her back left leg.  She is pretty stout other than that and moves along just fine.

The calves were all nice sized and grew well (except for the one that died of course).  Had a couple of other steers that are just fine from a commercial stand point (grew out well but just weren't pretty enough for show).  But there is no telling which direction the feet are going to point.

Some of them do have the curliest hair I've run into on a black calf.

 

[farmboy]

ill second that curly hair chambero,my advisor and freind has showed 2 kadabra calves 2 years in a row and not done bad, 2 seconds, 2 firsts, and reserve champion.every year they were the hairiest calves and the reserve champ was an absolute tank. (cow)

 

[DLD]

I'm not a big Kadabra fan either. Never used him myself, but over the years I've bought and resold a few, and though the heifers have pretty much been alright, the steers just haven't fed out like they looked like they would as calves. They just tend to get a little tighter moving, lighter in their lower quarter, and tighter in their flank as they matured...

All that said though, I've got one bought that right now I intend for my son to show. He's a black stocking legged Kadabra out of an All About You first calf heifer. I worry about the things I mentioned above, but he shows no sgns of those issues (yet, anyway) and he's really super stout and attractive. The price was sure right on him, so I figure he's worth a shot.

 

[cattlejunky]

Nice heifer.  We had a Kadabra Steer last year.  LOVE all the hair he puts on them.  I have always heard it is hard to find a good kadabra steer, but if you do he is usually really good.
I too, have heard his heifers are always better.  He definately puts the show look in them.  What is your heifer bred too?

 

[knabe]

this is not my heifer.  since i'm new at this, one thing that was interesting is when i asked her what the breeding was because of the way she walked, she said she was a kadabra out of an angus cross cow, the cow being a flush from the pannell 4072 cow x an angus sire.  could be wrong on that.  i said i was disappointed she wasn't more maine, since i think kadabra is 3/4 with the 1/4 being shorthorn?  not that that's bad, it just seems there are not purebreds anywhere in CA, which is kind of interesting from a breed perspective if maines want to get into the commercial sector, they need to expand their base a little bit.  since i'm just a novice, and only interested in genetics for genetics sake and some beef, i'm not the person to do it.  all the other heifers i asked the breeding about, none were purbred and they had the usual i guess for CA breeding of sunseeker, heatseaker, paddy etc on angus cross cows either with shorthorns or charolais in them.  i'm thinking this is the "balancer" approach, and not very condusive to a concentration of predictable factors in bulls one might sell to purebred or commercial operators, just the club calf industry, which is ok, and as cowz has reminded me, this is a show steers site!

 

[Jill]

Schnoors have always had some really nice purebred Maines, did they not show in the heifer show?

 

[knabe]

they may have been there, there were probably at least 5 blonde girls all about the same height, and being blond myself, they all look alike and i haven't been around long enough other than to know the name if she was there.  i'm pretty sure schnoors purchased several purebreds at J&J's dispersal, including i think even some fullbloods, unless i have her confused with someone else.  she may have been one i didn't ask about.  i only had 3 hours to be at the fair per honey, and it was a 3 hour drive both ways, so i was kind of in a rush.

 

[DLD]

Knabe, Kadabra doesn't have any Shorthorn in him - at least not enough to notice. AMAA shows him to be registered as 50%, though his actual percentage of MA looks like it could be a bit higher. He's sired by Habanero (Pistol Pete x Power Plant, 75% MA, the rest is Angus, Chi and Simmi) and out of a Festus (Chi/Angus, by Sugar Ray) x Pistol Pete cow. The hair comes from Habanero, though I'm not sure where he got it.

 

[knabe]

your right DLD, sorry, veryify before you type even if it's a ?

what are the hairyest horned bulls? or are polled hairyier in general since that protein needs to go somewhere?  probably not true since my hairiest heifer is horned, and the one with the least hair is polled.

that sugar ray sure is persistent.

 

[Jill]

Knabe, Kadabra doesn't have any Shorthorn in him - at least not enough to notice. AMAA shows him to be registered as 50%, though his actual percentage of MA looks like it could be a bit higher. He's sired by Habanero (Pistol Pete x Power Plant, 75% MA, the rest is Angus, Chi and Simmi) and out of a Festus (Chi/Angus, by Sugar Ray) x Pistol Pete cow. The hair comes from Habanero, though I'm not sure where he got it.

We had seen him at Gregory's when he was just a calf, he had unbelievable hair, like 3-4 inches of it.  That is a really nice heifer, we haven't been real impressed with ours, must have a lot to do with the cow he is crossed with.