JUNE 41 
383 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK RED POLLED 
CATTLE. 
G. F. FABER. 
During the last quarter of a century much 
attention has been given to the breeding and 
improvement of the different strains or fami¬ 
lies of polled cattle, which for a long time pre¬ 
vious, bad been a favorite stock 
with the farmers of a few locali¬ 
ties in England and Scotland. The 
breeders and admirers of the 
polled cattle in Great Britain now 
have the satisfaction of noting a 
rapidly growing demand for their 
stock at much larger prices than 
were ever before paid, notwith¬ 
standing the general depreciation 
In the value of other breeds of 
cattte there during the past few 
years. They also find their Ameri¬ 
can Cousin, with all of bis usual 
enterprise, promptly on hand, to 
take au interest in anything su¬ 
perior to that which be has in hi6 
•own country, and it is with no 
small degree of satisfaction that 
they now see the opening of a 
market for their stock, which 
may be said to be almost unlim¬ 
ited in its extent, creating a de¬ 
mand that will soon advance 
prices. 
My only wonder is that my own 
attention, as well as that of oth¬ 
ers, was not sooner called to the 
advantages of hornless over 
horned cattle. During the past 
five years much has been written 
and said by American breeders 
and writers for agricultural pa¬ 
pers for and against polled cattle. 
On the part of some there is a 
prejudice against them, which 
may be readily accounted for 
where parties are interested in 
costly herds of horned cattle. I have yet to 
hear of one good reason for preferring horns 
on our domestic animals, There is no desire to 
have them on horses and sheep, why on cattle? 
There will be less of this prejudice when the 
introduction of hornless cattle shall have be¬ 
come more general, and I predict this at an 
early date, judging from the preparations now 
being made for iarge importations of the im¬ 
proved breeds of the Old Conutry. 
There has of late been a great deal of in¬ 
quiry with regard to the characteristics of 
these improved breeds. The great improve¬ 
ments made by the leadisg breeders of polled 
cattle iu England and Scotland, would seem to 
have developed representatives of two distinct 
types or breeds of these animals, which are 
now known as the “Norfolk and Suffolk Red 
Polled Cattle," originating with the red or dun 
polled cow, common iu Norfolk and Suffolk 
counties, Englaud, so far back as the remem¬ 
brance of the oldest inhabitants, and the im¬ 
proved “ Polled Angus or Aberdeen” of Scot¬ 
land, which probably originated with the 
Polled Gallo way. The Angus are of the sa ue 
color as the Galloway- 
black—but are larger and 
of so much better quality 
that they are now con¬ 
sidered as a distinct 
breed. 
In this article I shall 
treat only of the Nor¬ 
folk arid Suffolk Red 
Polled Cattle, which on 
aceouut of their fine form 
and styliBb, spirited ap¬ 
pearance, their beautiful 
color and their adapta¬ 
bility to the production 
of either beef or milk 
and butter, I prefer to 
either of the other polled 
breeds. They vary much 
in size, the cows running 
from nine to fifteen hun¬ 
dred weight. B’or my 
own breeding I prefer a 
medium-Bized cow of 
from ten to twelve hun¬ 
dred weight. I find that 
an increase of size, above 
this, is apt to be gained 
at the expeuse of milk¬ 
ing qualities, and I pre¬ 
fer to keep two distinct 
Btrains; one of medium 
size, which for daily 
purposes will compete 
with any breed in the 
country, giving a good 
mess of milk of excellent 
quality and holding out well; the other 
larger and more easily fattened making 
beef of the finest quality. All of these 
cattle are very hardy, and are not so much 
affected by sudden ehauges of climate 
as are some of the improved breeds of 
horned cattle with which I have had exper- 
ence. The cows, almost without exception, 
have large teats, a great advantage in the 
drawing of the milk, Not a few experienced 
breeders have remarked, upon seeing certain 
cows of this breed, that, in their judgment, 
they were a perfect type of what a good dairy 
cow should be; that they would not know 
where to suggest an improvement. Mr. P. 
K Fowler, an English breeder of Short-horDS, 
says, “l have seen the Norfolk fot the first 
time, and I must say I am much struck with 
the reroaikable usefulness and value of the 
cattle of this district. The cows have good, 
useful udders, so that they are likely to be 
capital cows for the dairy. Among the lot 
we scarcely found an animal but what was fit 
for the show yard. As a Short-horn breeder, 
I wish I could put some of the good points I 
found upon the Norfolk Polled Cattle on the 
animals I am breeding.” 
The points of a superior animal as ac¬ 
cepted by breeders of these cattle are as fol¬ 
lows: “Color: a deep red with udder of the 
same color, but the tip of the tail may be white; 
nose not dark or cloudy. Form: a neat 
head and throat; a full eye; a tuft or crest of 
hair should hang over the forehead. The 
frontal bones should begin to contract a little 
above the eyes and should terminate in a com¬ 
paratively narrow prominence at the summit 
of the head. In all other particulars the 
commonly accepted points of a superior an¬ 
imal are to be taken as applying to the Nor¬ 
folk and Suffolk Polled Cattle. 
No farmer who has owued a held of im¬ 
proved polled cattle, will ever again have cat¬ 
tle with horns. A dozeu of the polled cattle 
will drink at the same time from a trough, 
which would accomodate but one animal hav¬ 
ing horns. The same number will crowd to¬ 
gether, under a shed for shelter the whole 
space of which one horned animal would con¬ 
sider necessary for its comfort, driving its 
fellows ont. With these polled cattle, the 
farmer and the shipper of stock need have no 
fear of damage resulting from the goring of 
horns. There is now a demand from all parts 
of the conntiy for young bulls of this breed, 
the progeny from a cross of these on horned 
cows being for the most part hornless. The 
bulls are notably quiet and gentle and are led 
by a halter with entire safety. Having no 
weapons with which to fight, they have no 
temptation to do so. I am confident that the 
introduction of these cattle here is adding 
largely to the value of the live stock of the 
country and to the satisfaction and pleasure 
of farmers and breeders in handling them. 
Putnam Co., N. Y. 
- ♦ >» - - - 
Polled Suffolk Bull “Stout.” 
The accompanying cut represents the two- 
year-old bull, Stout, bred by Mr. R. E. Loffc, 
Troston Hall, Suffolk. England, and imported 
into this country by G F. Faber, Patterson, 
Putnam Co., N Y. He is from an excellent 
strain, known as the “ Handsome ” tribe, and | 
he won a large number of prizes at shows in 
Great Britain. 
— - 
Hereford Bull. Prince Imperial 1,796, 
(6 117)—Bred by J H. & G S. Burleigh, of 
Mechanicsville, Iowa; dropped January 18, 
1878, and bought, when about a vear old. by G. 
S Burleigh, of Yassalboro, Me. He then 
weigbed 1,010 pounds. He is by Advance 
(5 714); dam, Princess B., 1, 777, whose live 
weight in breeding condition, at five years old, 
was 1,810 pounds Mr. Burleigh soon sold a 
half interest in him to his partner, the Hon. J. 
G. Bodwell, and subsequently they sold him, 
with 15 imported Herefords, to Mr. F. Lamed, 
of Pittsfield, Mass., who now owns him. 
AYRSHIRE C4TTLE. 
HENRY 8TSWART. 
The Ayrshire race of cattle has an interest¬ 
ing history. It has grown up with its country 
in an especial manner, and furnishes a remark¬ 
able instance of the improvement which may 
be effected upon the agriculture 
of a country, the country itself, 
the people, and the general in¬ 
dustries, by an improvement in 
the cattle of the country. A 
century ago the agriculture and 
the condition of the population 
of Ayrshire were both very mis¬ 
erable. There were no roads; 
the dwellings were mud cabins 
with a fire-place in the center, 
and the chimney a mere opeumg 
in the eeuter of the roof for the 
escape of the ernoke; the land 
was encumbered with rocks and 
weeds and undergrowth of bus! » 
es; there were no green mead¬ 
ows, no carta, no carriages, aid 
no farm yards, nor auy saving cf 
manure for the fields. Oats ar d 
Scotch kail were the principil 
crops, and the people subsisted 
on oat-meal and kail brose. 
The land was sown repeatedly in 
oats; so long as the seed was re¬ 
turned and sufficient grain fir 
the subsistence of the tenant and 
the demands of the land-owner 
for bis share, which was given as • 
rest, both were satisfied. 
The cattle of the country were 
as poor as their keepers. Th< y 
roamed over the marshes and 
prejednpon the oat-fields when 
the pangs of hunger drove them 
to abandon their scarry pastures 
and de’y the efforts of their four- 
footed guardian to keep them from trespassing. 
In the Winter they starved and often died of 
hunger, and when the Spring arrived it was 
usually necessary to lift them upon their feet 
that they might weakly stagger abroad to seek 
a little better subsistence than dried brakes 
and gor8e, upon which they had been fed. but 
not nourished, through the Winter. These 
cattle were black-and-white, small, bony, and 
able only to support their calves and yield a 
little milk, which their owners ate with their 
oat-meal. They were very similar in character 
to the cattle of Bretagne (a French race now 
known as Ereton), and some writers, especially 
Moll and Gazot, the French authors, have sup¬ 
posed that these cattle were the progenitors of 
the ancient Ayrsbires, as communication by 
sea between France and Scotland was quite 
common for many years previously, when po¬ 
litical associations betwaen these countries 
were active and close. 
The first improvement in the original Ayr¬ 
sbires was made through the introduction of 
Holstein cattle by IheEtrl of Marchraontat the 
latter part of the 18th century. Tnese Hoi- 
steins were not of that 
race of Dutch cattle with 
which we are now fa¬ 
miliar, and which are 
wrongly styled Holstein 
—a large black-and-white 
breed. They were tbe 
true Hoisteius from tie 
Duchie& of Schleswig- 
Holstein — a red-acc 1 - 
white race—which weie 
then imported freely for 
the improvement of the 
Tees water or Durham 
stock. They were, in 
fact, the original Short¬ 
horns—large, well-form¬ 
ed animals and good 
milkers. There is also 
a tradition current in 
Ayrshire that about this 
time some Alderney cattle 
were brought into the 
district of Dunlop, in the 
county of Ayr, and be¬ 
came mixed with the 
imported Holsteins. In 
fact, if we were to con¬ 
sider what would be the 
effect of a union between 
these two races—the well- 
formed, large red-and- 
white Holstein, and the 
slender Alderney, with 
its fine head, Us dished 
face and broad forehead, 
its long and slender 
neck, its wedge-liko form, and its fawn- 
aud-white colors—we should at once recog¬ 
nize in effect the modern Ayrshire, in which 
the characters of the two races are very evenly 
mixed and balanced. The large milking prop¬ 
erty of the Holstein and the rich butter pro¬ 
duction of the Alderney are precisely mixed in 
the present character of he Ayrshire, which t 
