Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

74 CATTLE.
NORFOLK POLLED CATTLE.
Until the beginning of the last century, and for some years afterward,
the native breed of Norfolk belonged to the middle-horns.
They have, however, been almost superseded by a polled breed.
From a very early period, a great part of the Galloway cattle
were prepared for the Smithfield market on the pastures of Norfolk
and Suffolk. Some of .the Galloways, accidentally, or selected on
account of their superior form and quality, remained in Norfolk ; and
the farmer attempted to neutralize and to rear in his own county a
breed of cattle so highly valued in the London market. To a certain
degree he succeeded ; and thus the polled cattle gradually gained
upon the homed, and became so much more numerous and profitable
than the old sort, that they began to be regarded as the peculiar
and native breed of the county.
NORFOLK COW.
They retain much of the general form of their ancestors, the Galloways,
but not all their excellencies. They have been enlarged but
not improved by a southern climate and a richer soil. They are
usually red; some, however, are black, or either of these colors
mixed with white, with a characteristic golden circle about the eye.
They are taller than the Galloways, but thinner in the chine, flatter
in the ribs, longer in the legs, somewhat better milkers, of greater
weight when fattened, bu. 4 . not fattening so kindly, and the meat not
quite equal in quality.