Doctor's Praise for Red Polls

The Bury St Edmund’s twins being orphans from birth have been reared entirely on Red Poll milk from the herd of Mr David Smith of Chevington which is composed of well-bred cows typical of the breed in every way, and particularly in regard to the butter-fat content of the milk which averages four percent, a figure which is largely the average for herds of this old British breed.

Not a little interest attaches to the reasons which accounted for the Norwich twins being given exclusive diet of Red Poll milk. The parents chanced to reside in a district in Norwich in which an enterprising breeder of Red Poll cattle— Mr W P Bailey of Weston—decided to retail direct from his farm all the milk his herd produced. The result to him was amazing; although his deliveries were confined to a comparatively small area, his supplies quickly fell short of the demand.

This Red Poll herd owner, who made a point of supplying milk direct from the cow, received what was, to his mind, the best testimony for the Red Poll that could be imagined when informed of a doctor’s opinion on its value in preference to a manufactured food which had been recommended.

The mother of the Norwich twins, having tried some of the Red Poll milk, and the babies having improved on it, she arranged for a regular supply, and fed them on nothing else. The change was quite unknown to the doctor who had been regularly attending the infants.

The constant trouble with which these young infants were affected ceased; they soon commenced to thrive and to such an extent that not only were the parents pleased, but the doctor was surprised with the immediate progress of the babies. The latter, after an inspection of the milk, made the significant observation that it was a pity young children in the cities and towns could not have plentiful supplies of it.

It is an interesting story how Mr Bailey came to introduce Red Poll milk to Norwich. Having as one of the most regular patrons of the Red Poll Sales, built up a herd of considerable size, which has been carried on in essentially commercial lines, Mr Bailey was minded to retail his own milk in Norwich. Purchasing a Morris-Oxford van his son and two daughters spent one morning in a comparatively small area of Norwich in the distribution of free gifts of all of the milk from the Weston herd that morning. In two days it was impossible to supply anything like the demand for the milk of which orders were received, and in consequence the herd is being gradually extended.

Taken from Newsletter No. 111, Summer 2018