18 
THE OX. 
POLLED SUFFOLK BREED. 
itself in a fertile district, amidst all the improvement which the cattle of the country have undergone. Suffolk is still distinguished 
as a dairy district. The principal manufacture is butter, which finds a sale in London, and other markets. It also produces 
great quantities of skimmed-milk cheese; which has given rise to the saying, that Suffolk produces the best butter and the worst 
cheese in England. From this kind of cheese being well suited to withstand the heat of warm countries, it was formerly largely 
employed in victualling the Navy. In consequence of the early attention paid to the produce of the dairy, it is easy to see that cows 
the best suited for that purpose would be sought for in preference to those possessing the property of early fattening. The dairy 
farmers hold it sufficient to obtain a good milking Cow, and, accordingly, the only principle of choosing bulls is that of selecting 
those which possess the reputation of breeding a good dairy stock. This system being pursued for a long period, the result has 
been what our knowledge of the principles of breeding would lead us to expect. The characters which indicate a disposition to 
arrive at early maturity and secrete fat, have been disregarded; while those that indicate a disposition in the female to produce 
abundant milk, have been alone valued. It is remarked by Amhub Young, that the Suffolk breed has been preserved by a kind 
of accident. This observation cannot be admitted to be just. The Suffolk breeders, indeed, may not have been guided by very 
fixed principles in the choice of animals, but they have followed a certain rude experience, which has led them to select such as 
were suited to their uses; and they have acquired accordingly a race of animals admirably adapted to a particular end, however 
defective they may be in those other properties which have long been desired by the breeders of the country. The Cows of Suffolk, 
though subjected to careless treatment, and supported on the most common kinds of food, are scarcely surpassed by any other m 
tlieir power of yielding abundant milk. 
It is a question of economical interest for an extensive, rich, and populous part of the country, whether the breed thus formed 
during so many ages should be preserved and improved on the present basis, or whether it should be abandoned for some other 
possessed of different properties? Were the produce of the dairy the sole end of farming in Suffolk, then, perhaps, no better 
course could be followed than to preserve the breed as it exists, confining attention to the removing of its more obvious defects. 
But Suffolk is not merely a dairy county, but, like every other in England, employs a large capital in grazing for the butcher; 
and therefore it does not seem necessary or expedient to confine attention exclusively to a race of ill-formed animals, merely 
because they possess one property in perfection. This district is capable of rearing any of the superior breeds of the island, and 
others, therefore, might be produced in it, combining a greater number of useful qualities than the native race. But, looking to 
the actual state of Suffolk as a district in which the husbandry of the dairy is extensively established and successfully pursued, it 
is rather to be regretted that a race of cattle so well suited to the uses required should have been so much neglected; for it is to 
be observed, that the forming of a good dairy breed is greatly more difficult than the procuring of one adapted to the purposes of 
the grazier. But the breed has been long decreasing in numbers and purity, and it is probable that it will ultimately be merged m 
races which are made to cross it. The Ayrshire has been introduced to a great extent into the district; but though the Ayrshire 
is certainly a superior race to the Suffolk for a combination of useful qualities, it is greatly to be doubted if it is equal to it in the 
power of yielding a large quantity of milk on indifferent food. 
Attempts have been made to improve the Polled Suffolk breed, for the purpose of rendering it suitable to the grazier as well 
as to the dairy. Mr Reeve of Weighton, near Wells, began a system of improvement of this kind nearly fifty years ago. He 
adopted the practice of careful selection, confining himself, however, to a particular colour, which, in compliance with the popular 
opinion was red, in place of the dun more characteristic of the race. The stock acquired the conformation which he aimed at, 
and the’property of arriving at more early maturity. His son-in-law, Mr England, preserved until a recent period the same 
stock, and carefully cultivated the properties which it had acquired. The figure of the Cow given in the plate is of this variety. 
She will be seen to possess a form which would be esteemed good in any breed. She is represented just as she appeared in the 
straw-yard • and a Bull, fed likewise on common food, exhibited a form as good as the race was capable of acquiring, consistently 
with the preservation of its proper characters. Notwithstanding of the perfection to which Mr Reeve’s stock had been brought 
durino- a lifetime of attention, Mr England found it for his interest to abandon it, and adopt the Short-homed, as being more 
profitable. This and other experiments lead to the conclusion, that, though the old Polled Suffolk is admirably adapted to the 
dairy, it does not form a good basis for a breed suited to the mixed purposes of the dairyman and the grazier. 
