Red Poll Genetics
Consistency and Balance
The
value of any breed is what’s on the inside—its genetics. Red
Polls offer remarkable genetic consistency,
resulting from centuries of pure breeding and careful selection. Red Poll
bulls are prolific breeders
and their offspring are predictable and uniform. Many breeds are not as
genetically uniform and can’t produce Red Poll consistency in their
offspring.
Because they are only distantly related to many other commercial beef breeds, Red Polls can impart significant hybrid vigor when crossed with other breeds. Red Polls, for example, were used in the development of the Senepol breed in the Virgin Islands as long ago as the 1920s, and were highly used in USDA Meat Animal Research Center research programs. That research caused MARC scientists to classify Red Polls as a breed that would make great contributions in crossbreeding programs.
Red
Polls are efficient, useful cattle. Uniformly red and naturally polled,
they excel in virtually all characteristics sought by the beef producer.
They are known most widely for their great
disposition and the ease with which they are handled. Red
Poll cows are great mothers, producing extremely rich (high protein) milk,
yet are gentle and are productive for many years (longevity in many herds
can be documented).
Bulls are easy handling, yet aggressive breeders. Red Poll bulls generally weigh 2,000 to 2,200 pounds, and cows 1,200 to 1,500 pounds. Their gentleness makes them an excellent choice for family farms, rotational grazing and other systems where ease of handling is valued.
Red Poll
Modern Genetics for Today’s Cattle Industry
Origin
of the Red Poll
By the last quarter of the 18th Century, English farmers in Norfolk and Suffolk Counties has developed two distinct and relatively pure strains of cattle that did well in their harsh conditions. These cattle were the result of close breeding due to geographic isolation and disdain for “things brought from the Shires,” that is, from other parts of England.
The Norfolk cattle were regarded as an excellent type of beef cattle. The Suffolk cattle were only fair as beef producers but were said to be “the finest milkers in all of England."
Thomas William Coke, later the Earl of Leicester, owned
the Holkham Estate in North Norfolk. A progressive minded tenant farmer
of his, named John Reeve, began mating a Suffolk bull to his red and polled
Norfolk cows. Reeve and other like-minded men practiced a high
degree of selection for beef and milk characteristics. They
successfully developed the breed’s dual-purpose cattle that became
known as “the Red Polled Cattle Descended from the Norfolk and Suffolk
Red Polled.” The resulting progeny and their descendants earned popularity
as improved cattle. This resulted in the practical merger 
of
the two strains of cattle that were recognized as a separate breed in 1846.
The Red Poll Herd book was one of the earliest purebred cattle registries and was included in the first herd, stud and flock books that came into general use in America. Henry F. Euren was a student and reporter of English agriculture in Ipswich, England, in 1873. Using estate records, he gathered pedigrees of foundation cattle selected by the standards committee of Norfolk and Suffolk county societies. He designed and edited Volume I of the Herd book that year and published it in 1874. He owned the Herd Book for 15 years and was the editor for 25 years.
Cattle
of the Norfolk and Suffolk bloodlines were used in the eastern and southern
parts of the United States. The Jamestown Catlle of Virginia were founded
from the get of that of the old, highly respected Red Muley of Vermont and
Mississippi. These and other cattle of Norfolk-Suffolk breeding were collateral
descendants of the same seedstock but were never registered, so are not
ancestors of the modern Red Poll breed.
The first regular importation of registered Red Poll Cattle was a draft of four head of the original foundation cattle in Norfolk and Suffolk. They were imported by G.F. Tabor of New York in 1873 and were recorded in Volume I of the Original Series.
The Red Poll breed was officially declared a beef breed in 1972. The transition to the red meat beef type of cattle was made through herd management and was considered complete at the time.
Red Poll
Modern Genetics for Today’s Cattle Industry
