red polls

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Okotoks

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Aug 17, 2010
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We used to have a Red Poll show in Calgary but the breed in Canada is getting very small, only a few registrations a year. Although a lot of the cattle are more a dual purpose type you would think they would make a great cross to bring in some maternal. Some of the bulls were pretty impressive beef animals.
 

justintime

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May 26, 2007
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When I was in my teens, my dad and I would drag our show herd around Southern Saskatchewan, from early July to August , and I will always remember some of the Red Polls that also attended these shows. There were two herds in particular, that had some excellent Red Polls. Each one of these two herds had amazing mature cows that they showed, and it was always a toss up which one would win on any particular day. I still consider these two cows as being model beef females, with capacity, perfect udders and sound structure. I am sure that if these females were alive today, and in their prime, they could win some interbreed competitions.

I walked through the Red Polls in Louisville, and I saw some very interesting animals. I saw a couple cows that made me stop for a second look and they were pretty good, but I do not think they were as good as the Red Poll cows I saw in my youth.... but that was then and this is now!!
 

RedCowsRule

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Jun 22, 2010
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My family has raised Red Polls since 1941.  We love their mothering abilities and milk production.  They are a very docile breed for the most part and make great cattle for those wanting to do some niche marketing.  Most of them don't gain quite as fast or look quite as heavily muscled as many of the other breeds so they have fallen somewhat out of favor, but we think they have a good niche in the market on the maternal side.  The best cows in our commercial herd are half-blood Red Polls.  We fed some half-bloods out through an Indiana steer feed out program and they grew and performed as well as any of the other breeds. 

The purebred steers work the best in our freezer beef business.  If we take them to the salebarn, they don't necessarily top the sale, but we have never had any complaints on our freezer beef and many of our customers ask for Red Poll animals exclusively.  I grew up eating nothing but Red Poll beef and I can say I haven't found anything that beats it yet.
 

RedCowsRule

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Here are some pictures of some animals that we have raised over the last few years.
 

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Show Heifer

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A local used to show red polls... oh wait, maybe they were gelvbieh.... or were they red angus..... oh heck, I don't know, and neither did they! They were red though.
They were known for showing whatever critter they could steal with whatever registration they had in their hand!  Whatever they had, they seemed a bit hard doing, and long and lanky. Not really my type of cattle.

But RedCowsRule: Nice photos. Do you have Red angus also?

 

Okotoks

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Really nice cattle in those photos. That cow in the 655 pic is great one.
 

RedCowsRule

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Yeah, we raise both Red Polls and Red Angus.  Grandpa started our Red Poll herd in the 1940's and we've still got a pretty solid nucleus of them around here.  We're currently running about 30 head of purebred cows.  We have also started to get into the Red Angus business in the last year.  We currently have about 10 cows to start a nucleus of Red Angus from.  Most of these will be donor cows for the time being.  The first one we bought is a heifer that was raised here in Indiana and has been pretty successful on the show circuit, culminating in being named Champion Red Angus at the Indiana State Fair.  She's headed to Denver and I'm hoping to get some good pictures of her after we get her clipped out tomorrow.  I'll post them when I get a chance.

My long-term goal is to produce replacement females that are a three way cross between Red Angus, Red Poll and either Simmy or Gelbvieh.  I think those females would make great producers.  We've got some half-blood Red Poll females in the commercial herd that are our top producers.  Finding a good, consistent market in the midwest for a large number of purebred Red Poll females has been a little more difficult than I would like so I'm thinking of trying to take the next step and market them in the role that they best fit within the commercial cattle industry.  Use them to make your own replacements, use them for recips, breed them homo black and sell them at the salebarn, I think these females will work well in a variety of roles.  Using red recips would have it's advantages, if you were putting in red eggs, use a homo black bull and you would know which you had.  If you were using black eggs, use a red bull on them.
 

Show Heifer

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I think your on the right track! You have a nice herd of RP and are starting strong in the RA's.  You have a good plan!

When comparing the two, which have better maternal ability, and which is more docile?  Are you thinking the Gelv will add some meat and bone?
 

Aussie

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Jun 27, 2010
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Tasmania Australia
Red Polls were very popular here but have all but disappeared with the black invasion. Very functional cows but sometimes subject to bottle teats. Had a client 20 years ago that had Red Poll cows and used Blond Aquitaine bull and had great vealers selling 100 calves average weighting 840lbs at 10 months sold direct to slaughter. The bull below was interbreed and supreme champion at Canberra Royal a few years ago
 

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bwl1101

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Jan 1, 2009
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Ohio
In my opinion I wish Red Poll cattle would come back. Growin up and for several years after school I worked for Shirlynne Farms, here in western Ohio. These cattle were bought the most maternal, easy caring, and doscile cattle id ever workned with. Some of the Red Poll breeders out there I'm sure remember some of the bulls, Altitude, Magnitude, Sizemore. We had numerous National Champions on the farm. But the most important part about these cattle in my opinion was the end product. We never had a complaint about the meat sold to our customers.
 

RedCowsRule

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Yeah, bwl, I remember the Shirlynne herd.  I ended up with one of the very last heifers out of their herd out of one of the National Sales at Louisville.  That herd sure made a mark on the breed.  I was young enough that I don't remember them well, but my Grandpa knew Dick and Shirley pretty well.

 
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