CHAPTER XLII 



THE RED POLLED 



The native home of Red Polled cattle is in England, in 

 the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, which border the North 

 Sea and comprise the most easterly part of England. The coun- 

 try is rolling, with some marshlands, and furnishes good grazing 

 and live-stock conditions, although parts of Norfolk have poor, 

 thin land. The climate is fairly temperate arid moist, character- 

 istic of England. 



The origin of Red Polled cattle is differently interpreted by 

 live-stock writers. Culley thought them descended from the Gal- 

 loway type, and was the first to suggest this source, although 

 the two breeds materially differ. Others have attributed the 

 ancestry to the wild white polled sort. Mr. Euren, the organ- 

 izer of Red Polled interests abroad, has suggested that the 

 breed was derived from the polled cattle of southern Europe, as, 

 for example, Hungary or central Russia where cattle possessed 

 the soft satiny skin of the Red Polled, rather than from the Gal- 

 loway with its heavy, long coat and thicker hide. The fact is, 

 the breed has developed, like other British breeds, from material 

 which passes beyond historical record. We do know, however, 

 that the present-day Red Polled breed consists of an amalgama- 

 tion of the following two types or varieties. 



i. Suffolk Red Polled. The county of Suffolk lies just south 

 of Norfolk. The northeast part of this, sometimes designated 

 as East Anglia, was settled in the fifth century by Scandina- 

 vians, and it is stated that they brought with them cattle. In 

 this section of Suffolk, only twelve by twenty miles, and later 

 in the entire county as well as in Norfolk, developed a polled 

 breed that became famous for milk production. In 1734 John 

 Kirby, in the Suffolk Traveller, wrote of the butter produced in 

 this district as "the best and pleasantest in England." These 



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