POLLED SUFFOLK BREED. 
PLATE IX. 
COW, Six Years Old, Bred by Richard England, Esq., Binham Abbey, Norfolk, from the Stock of 
Mr Reeve, Weighton, Norfolk. 
The Polled Suffolk Breed is usually termed the Suffolk Dun, from the county of Suffolk, where it is found in the greatest 
numbers, and from the mouse-dun colour which was once the prevailing one of the breed. Although termed Suffolk, the breed 
extends over Norfolk, Cambridge, and a part of Essex, where it either remains pure, or has been mixed in blood with other races. 
In Smithfield the fattened cattle, whether of pure or mixed lineage, receive the name of Home-breds. 
The Polled Suffolk cattle are, as the name denotes, destitute of horns. They are mostly of small size, and of defective 
form when we regard them as animals to be fattened. The characteristic colour of the older breed was a mouse-dun, or some 
shade approaching to that colour; but now they are generally reddish-brown, or brown mixed with white. The general form 
of the unmixed race is uncouth; the head is heavy and the extremities are coarse. The belly is large and the back narrow, 
which gave occasion to Bakewell to observe of them, that they were too like a penthouse-top, and would do very well if turned 
upside down. The cows have the udders very large, with the subcutaneous abdominal vein prominent, a character which always 
indicates the power of the female to yield much milk. Nearly a century ago the cows were described as having “ the carcasses 
large, the belly heavy, the back-bone ridged, the chine thin and hollow, and the loin narrow.” With the exception of the narrow¬ 
ness of the loin, this description applies truly to such of the descendants of the older breed as remain unmixed. They are found in 
the greatest purity and numbers in the middle division of the county of Suffolk, where numerous dairies are established. This may 
be regarded as the central habitation of the breed, its characters changing as we recede from this district. About Ipswich and 
southward to the coast the animals are larger and of coarser bone, retaining, however, the conformation and colour distinctive of 
the breed.. In Cambridge and Essex they exhibit a greater or smaller degree of departure from the parent type. In Norfolk 
they are mixed m blood with an older race, distinguished by small upright horns, which has now disappeared either by the sub¬ 
stitution of the pure Suffok, or by the effects of crossing. 
The breed was probably formed at an early period, its peculiarities having arisen from the attention of breeders being mainly 
directed to the fitness of the animals for the dairy. Camden thus describes the county of Suffolk between two and three centuries 
ago: “ A large country it is, and full of havens, of a fat and fertile soil (unlesse it be eastward), being compounded (as it is) of 
clay and marie; by meanes whereof, there are in every place most rich and goodly corne fields, with pastures as battable for grazing 
and feeding of cattell. And great store of cheeses are there made, which to the great commodity of the inhabitants are vented 
into all parts of England; nay into Germame, France, and Spaine also, as Pantaleon the Phisitian writeth, who stucke not to 
compare these of ours for colour and tast both, with those of Placentia.” * And Speed, who wrote in 1676, thus speaks of the 
productions of the same part of England : “ The commodities of this shire are many and great, whereof the chiefest consist in corn 
cattle, cloth, pasturage, woods, sea-fish and fowle; and as Abbo Floricensis hath depainted, This country is of green and pass¬ 
ing fresh hue, pleasantly replenished with orchards, gardens, and groves: Thus he described it above six hundred years since, and 
now we find as he hath said; to which we may add their gain from the pail.” f These notices suffice to show that it is long since 
a breed of cattle suited to the uses of the dairy had been established in the county of Suffolk. Some, judging from the absence of 
horns, and the size and general aspect of the animals, have imagined that the Polled Suffolk is a variety of the Galloway breed of 
Scotland, introduced into this part of England by the long intercourse between the Scotch breeders and the Suffolk and Norfolk 
graziers. The Polled Suffolk, however, has as much the characteristics of a distinct native breed as the Galloway itself The 
individuals differ from the Galloways in the colour of the skin and hair, in the muscular development of the neck and shoulders 
which are naturally large in the Galloway but thin in the Polled Suffolk, in the smaller depth of the ribs, and in the superior 
milking properties in the females. 
Ihe Polled Suffolk breed is regarded as hardy to the degree of bearing careless treatment and subsisting on indifferent 
food, and the cows are noted, as in former times, for the large quantity of milk which they yield, in proportion to their size 
and the food consumed. It is this property which gives its real value to the breed, which otherwise could not have maintained 
* Camden’s Britannia, translated newly into English by Philemon Holland, Doctour in Physick _ 1610. 
f Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. 
E 
