CHAPTER XL 

 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 country is roll- 

 ing, with some marsh lands, and furnishes good grazing and 

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

 land. The climate is fairly temperate and moist — characteristic 

 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 orgariizer of Red 

 Polled interests abroad, has suggested that the breed was derived 

 from the polled cattle of southern Europe — for example, Hun- 

 gary or central Russia, where cattle possessed the soft satiny skin 

 of the Red Polled — rather than from the Galloway, 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 amalgamation of the following 

 two types or varieties : 



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

 of Norfolk. The northeast part, sometimes designated as East 

 Anglia, was settled in the fifth century by Scandinavians, and it is 

 stated that they brought cattle with them. In this section of Suf- 

 folk, 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 

 Traveler, wrote of the butter produced in this district as " the 

 best and pleasantest in England." These cattle were small, natu-. 

 rally thin of flesh, either red, brindled, or dun-colored, and always 



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