Sir Edward Coke was one of the leaders of the Agricultural Revolution in England during the late 18th early 19th century and his estate at Holkham in East Anglia was a centre of innovation at the time. He introduced Devon cattle to the estate, however, many of his tenants were dissatisfied with them. In 1808 James Reeve crossed two local breeds, the Norhfolk Red, a blood-red, hardy, early-maturing breed noted for its meat qualities, with the Suffolk Dun, a polled, light-red coloured breed known for its milk and butterfat production to produce the progenitors of one of the most successful of composite breeds. Both the Norfolk Red and the Suffolk Dun have been extinct for many years, but their fine beef and milk qualities live in the Red Poll.
The first Red Polls were brought to South Africa by Sir Cecil John Rhodes and proved themselves by adapting extremely well to South Africa's agro-ecological conditions. The Red Poll Cattle Breeders Society was established in 1921. From then onwards the Breeder's Society and the Red Poll grew in popularity and the numbers to such an extent that the SA Stud Book Association of the time had to create a separate Herd Book for the Red Polls.
In various countries and also in local South African herds, the Red Poll is primarily used for beef production as its inherent milking abilities are ideally suited for the rearing of top-quality calves. There are, however many herds - both locally and across the world, particularly in the United Kingdom - where Red Polls are used for dairying. The breed's ability to maintain high levels of production on low levels of concentrates and natural grazing, especially in view of the beef qualities of the calves, often makes them far more valuable in many regions than the recognised dairy breeds.
The most widely recognised qualities of the Red Poll are, firstly, the dominant natural poll and secondly, the red colour. These characteristics, combined with natural, inherent milking and mothering abilities, longevity, fertility, docile temperament, ease of calving and the fast growing calves, make the Red Poll the ideal animal in any crossbreeding programme. As indicated, the Red Poll truly deserves its dual-purpose breed status, although some refer to the Red Poll as a multi-purpose breed.
In South Africa, the stud breeding member pool is relative small and it culminates into the desirable importation of DNA to maintain a healthy gene pool by members of the breeder’s pool. Although the number of stud breeders is relative small, the quality of the pedigree animals is maintained at a very high level.
