"Blast from the past" - New pic's posted 4/15/09

[show steer up]

Hay everyone, its been a long hard seven months, but we are still in the ring

After last year's hard hit............ the kids and I have finally pulled it all back together

We have four steers this year and thanks to some very special people we have managed to go to three shows and pull in six class chanpions and one
"Grand Champion" steer at a Tuscon show
Hats off to all four of my children.
We did all this with one steer named "STAR BABY".

If you go to leskybrotherscattle.com you can see an early picture of him. He is lot #1
gotta love it

we also purchased another steer from Drager cattle co. and he has one class champion to his win list, his name is "Cha Ching" and he is #3 of that sale.

During Spring Break I will try and get some more pictures on this thread. We are currently getting ready to vamp up our cooler barn with a 5 ton air conditioner
We are going for the GOLD this year

After last year anything will be gold to us

ps. does anyone know anything about lowline cattle ?? We are looking into getting a few for my seven year old twins to show.

[Keren]

Congrats!

Cant wait for pics ...

As for the lowlines ... I've spoken about them many times before (mainly on the breeds board) so do a search and you should turn something up. Word of warning make sure temperament is VERY high on your list.

[grand chaser09]

congrats with all the success!

[aussie_cowgirl]

They look like nice steers.

Small cattle I find can have big attitudes so as previously mentioned be wary. Squaremeters are another breed to maybe look at (like the lowline version of a MG). But the best breed I have seen with kids is the South Devon. Which I have seen 18mth old steers at about 700kg (which if my conversion is right is about 1500-1600lb). Not small at all.

[show steer up]

Here are a few, Im not the best at taking pic's,


(my daughter) AKA Blue ribbon steer & "STAR BABY"
cowgirl up!


















and our new steer "CHA' CHING" shown by my son AKA wow showman

[Cowboy 2.0]

Here are a few, Im not the best at taking pic's,


(my daughter) AKA Blue ribbon steer & Star Baby
cowgirl up!

Rope halters work wonders for looks.

[Keren]

those are big old steers, that's for sure. Looks like you've done a good job feeding them out and preparing them excellent butt on that first steer

Aussie ... I dont think they have Square Meaters in US, otherwise I would have suggested them. Much better temperament than the lowies, and much better carcase conformation and easy doing ability too.

[Australian]

Aussie cowgirl. Yes South Devons are big and very docile and I often wonder why more school students don't have them to show. I have seen school kids wrestling with bad tempered Limousins and Angus. I have offered steers to my local high school on many occasions but they never take me up on the offer. Instead they are happy to come last with some old farmers rejects. I will say though that South Devon steers are better if they are only about 3/4 content. Some South Devons are very later maturing. They sure tone down the Limousin and add size and good temperamentt to the Angus. They are an excellent cross with Santas,Brahmans and Charolais and Herefords. The only breeds that I don't like them with is Gelbvieh. I think because to maternly similar breeds just don't give enough oomph.

[aussie_cowgirl]

I suppose. A lot of Euro breeds I find can be late maturing like that, most likely because they are bigger cattle. Our local SD breeders pull off some good steers, I guess they're just a bit more work to feed up. The cross breds normally do well in our hoof and hook competitions. But man you can't beat that temperament. Square meaters would be good, There are some nice ones west. How are your belted galloways over there? I see some nice ones, but then I see some dodgey ones. but I mean I have always like angus but man, kicking is ridiculous. Same with limos.

[Australian]

I love Galloways. There are a few through the New England area (the high country in the north of NSW)
Yes WA breeders have been good promoters of SDs. Shame the rest of Australia doesn't follow suit. There are no SDs shown by Qld Breeders. One NSW breeder shows (thats me) and there are about 4/5 in Victoria and 2/3 in SA. Tas has 1/2 sometime.I dont think any stud cattle are shown now in WA. I have offered starter herds to potential breeders but no one seems to like the idea or take me up on it. 2/3 heifers and a bull.

[show steer up]

Children,
if you’re going to hijack this thread at least put some links to these breeds so I can enjoy your conversation too

I need visuals

[aussie_cowgirl]

Ok, lol, this is a square meater. It is to murray greys what lowlines are to angus...

here's a south devon steer. normal size I'd say

And belted Galloways should look like this!


Besides shorthorn, belted galloways were the other breed I was considering breeding. I think they're great cattle if you can get nice ones. I think with enough publicity you could make people notice their carcase qualities.

Also I feel a bit rude not commenting on your kids cattle
Star Baby definitely has eye appeal. Thick, long, deep bodied. Nice legs and feet. He looks like he would be a nice natured animal too. And he stands so well (or maybe your handler is very very good, i don't know). Cha ching looks like he's going the same way too. Judging by the photos they are both very similar types. If he handles and shows as well as Star Baby you may have another champion on your hands

[show steer up]

My thoughts exactly
People don't understand, but Cha Ching is a better animal he just doesn't have the eye appeal like
Star Baby.
Also, my daughter stands out with that animal.......a major plus
So my son has his work cut out for him, his thread was a real eye opener for him. He is working hard on setting him up correctly. I have to give him credit, he tried to get pics out all on his own and I feel he did a good job.
When I came on this forum and saw that post my heart sank. One because I was afraid to open it fearing the worst and two, because that animal is way better than it was presented. But I give him an A++ for effort.
It’s nice that both my kids have a chance this year. It seams that every year only one of them has the champ potential.
This year is a whole new exciting game for us and I'm so happy my children didn’t throw down the cards after last year
So far Star is the #1 Chi in New Mexico (high point), my daughter may get a buckle if she goes to state. Our county fair is a terminal show for both Grand and Reserve and is before State. All the high point steers for New Mexico are from our area and showing at our County fair. So she may get to finish at State but we hope not.. Our County took everything this year in steer and heifers, go figure (crap) . We were not able to make The Denver beef expo because of the snow but one of our friends took there Chi class and was in grand champion line up. Star has beaten that steer now in all six shows and has beaten every grand and reserve steer at all the shows at one point in time this year.
We are so grateful to have been blessed with such a wonderful year and feel we have surpassed our expectation, we want the year to keep on going, already having tears that these animals will be gone shortly. Our goal is that all our steers go out at least class champions and then and only then; will we feel like we did our animals proud.

Thanks so much for your kind words, my kids check this post daily. I'm glad they are getting feedback both the good and the bad.

By the way aussie_cowgirl ............Are those you’re breeding They are some great looking animals.

[aussie_cowgirl]

I wish I was breeding them, nah they're just google images. I'm considering getting into the belted galloways. There is a wonderful stud in the US called Driftwood Plantation that do export standard semen and embryos. Beautiful cattle. It's a typical hobby farm animal though so it's hard to find nice ones.

My thoughts exactly, Star Baby does have that extra appeal. And in a show ring with a lot of nice cattle it comes down to judge preference and eye appeal. Whether they like to admit it or not. I've done it judging sheep. I think people were over reacting about the sickle hock. Cha Ching's front feet were forward so his feet were forward too. Maybe just run your son through setting up again (as much as he may dislike it). Very nicely presented animals though. Actually I might go into the other thread and give him some support.

[Keren]

Lol, there are a couple pics of SMs here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24650&p=254488&hilit=square+meaters#p254488

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42626&p=476602&hilit=square+meaters#p476602

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37870&p=416533&hilit=square+meaters#p416533