THE RED POLLED 



453 



eastern United States for over a century. In 1 847 the captain of the 

 vessel Jamestown, that took provisions to Ireland to relieve famine, 

 received the gift of a Suffolk polled heifer from a Mr. Jeffries, 

 living near Cork, as an expression of appreciation, and she was 

 brought to Massachusetts. From her descended a line of stock, 

 termed Jamestown cattle in Massachusetts, that produced polled 

 animals of superior character. In 1873 G. F. Taber of Patterson, 

 New York, made the first importation of breeding Red Polled 

 cattle to this country, consisting of a bull and three heifers and 

 later, in 1875, four more cows and, again, in 1882 three bulls 

 and twenty-three heifers. In 1882 Mead & Kimball of Vermont 

 brought over a bull and eleven females, and in 1883 G. P. Squires 

 of New York and Geldard & Busk, an English firm, made impor- 

 tations. In 1886 J. McLain Smith of Ohio made his first importa- 

 tion, and until his death, in 1905, he was a prominent advocate of 

 the breed. Captain V. T. Hills, also of Ohio, a leading American 

 authority on the breed, imported in 1887. During the last of the 

 nineteenth century and up to 1918 very few Red Polled cattle 

 were imported to the United States. 



Red Polled characteristics. Animals of this breed present the 

 dual-purpose type in its truest form, for good specimens yield 

 milk liberally and fatten satisfactorily on drying off, producing 

 a good grade of beef. The head is lean in type and presents the 

 characteristic poll. The top of the head should show the true 

 poll, and any scurs, or evidence of horny growth, will disqualify. 

 The poll of the bull is not so sharply pointed as with the cow. The 

 neck of both bull and cow lacks the fullness of the beef breeds, 

 the cows being notably thinner in this respect. The withers are 

 only moderately broad, and the shoulders resemble those of the 

 Shorthorn rather than the Hereford. The body is usually very 

 well ribbed and the back strong, but is not fleshed over in a 

 prominent degree. The hips lack prominence and cover easily 

 in fattening. The hind quarter presents the thinner beef form, 

 as shown in the leaner rump, thinner thigh, and shallower twist. 

 The udder frequently is more or less pendant, the fore part 

 commonly being deficient, while large teats are frequently seen, 

 although in this latter particular the breed has improved in recent 

 years, The udders are not commonly meaty with this breed, but 



