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Red  Poll  Cattle. 
It  is  the  continued  blending  of  these  two  strains  that  has 
made  the  Red  Poll  the  splendid  dual-pui-pose  animal  that  it 
is,  but  to  a certain  extent  the  original  distinction  between 
them  still  holds  good — the  Suffolk  herds  being  more  marked 
by  milking  quality  and  the  Norfolk  by  a disposition  to  lay 
on  flesh. 
Suffolk  polled  stock  was  first  exhibited  at  a “ Royal  ” Show 
in  1840,  at  Cambridge,  where  Sir  Edward  Kerrison  won  a 
prize  with  a yearling  bull.  Special  breed  prizes  were  first 
offered  for  the  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  polled  cattle  at  the 
Battersea  Show,  1863. 
It  was  not  till  1873  that  representatives  from  the  two 
counties  met  and  decided  that  a Herd  Book  should  be  estab- 
lished and  the  breed  defined.  The  enterprise  was  carried 
through  by  the  energy  of  Mr.  H.  F.  Euren,  who  made  the 
venture  his  own  and  acted  as  secretary  for  many  years. 
This  gentleman  combined  with  a peculiar  faculty  for 
keeping  records  and  tracing  pedigrees  a real  admiration  for 
the  Norfolk  hackney  and  the  Norfolk  cow. 
Not  only  does  the  Red  Poll  Society  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ii'eland  derive  its  existence  from  him,  but  the  Hackney  Stud 
Book  and  Society  also  owe  much  to  his  work  and  influence  ; 
and  it  is  his  son,  Mr.  F.  F.  Euren,  who  has  made  the 
International  Horse  Show  at  Olympia  one  of  the  attractions 
of  the  day. 
Experience  of  the  recently  established  Dairy  Shorthorn 
(C.H.B.)  Society  enabled  the  founder  and  his  friends  to  arrange 
an  improved  system  of  registering  pedigrees  of  Red  Poll  cattle  ; 
and  much  trouble  was  taken  to  ascertain  which  were  true-bred 
herds  before  they  were  admitted  to  the  Herd  Book. 
Herds  were  divided  into  groups,  mostly  geographical, 
which  were  distinguished  by  letters  : as  A,  Elmliam  ; K, 
Kimberley  ; N,  Necton  ; 0,  Oakley  ; U,  West  Suffolk,  &c.,  &c. 
Four  groups  are  named  from  famous  breeders  : B,  Biddell  ; 
H,  Hammond  of  Bale  ; P,  Powell  ; W,  Wolton  of  Newbourn. 
The  B group  is  now  the  most  numerous,  and  in  the 
Rendlesham  and  Sudbourn  herds  has  produced  many  milkers. 
The  H group  is  remarkable  for  its  distinguished  series  of 
“ Davy  ” daughters  and  “ Davyson  ” sons.  The  P group  is 
the  blue  blood  of  the  Red  Polls. 
Three  groups  are  now  extinct,  C,  D,  G,  while  F,  M,  and  X 
only  exist  in  units. 
The  groups  are  divided  into  tribes,  which  consist  of  all 
the  descendants,  male  and  female,  of  each  ancestress  cow, 
foundress  of  the  tribe,  and  which  are  marked  by  numbers 
attached  to  the  group  letter.  Thus  A,  the  Elmham  group, 
includes  nineteen  tribes,  which  are  distinguished  as  A, 
