"100% grass-fed beef can be produced without smelling bad, tasting funky and being tough."
Dr. Ron Harrell, Cardiologist, Dothan, Alabama
South Polls are known as the "Southern Mama Cow". South Polls are a composite breed composed of ¼ each of Red Angus, Hereford, Barzona, and Senepol. South Polls were bred to not just survive on grass, but to thrive on grass. Traits that make the South Poll special are:
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Teddy Gentry formed the South Poll breed in 1989 when he got the idea to genetically combine the best traits of four maternal Bos Taurus breeds to form a more heat-tolerant animal that would work for his cattle operation in Fort Payne, Alabama. He also wanted an animal with a gentle disposition that would produce tender beef on grass.
Teddy stated, “I wanted something that would allow me to maximize my profitability per acre on the grass that I’ve got. These cows work for me, I don’t work for them.”
Gentry started with a Hereford/Red Angus base, but since only a small percentage of the overall population in those two breeds are adapted to warm areas like his own, he started looking for other breeds that would complement the maternal components of the Hereford and Red Angus breeds.
Shortly thereafter, he purchased a set of Barzona/Hereford females he said went on to impress him with their overall hardiness and easy keeping ability on high moisture grasses. Gentry says that Barzonas are called the hardy breed and were developed by the Bard family in Arizona.
Gentry later selected the Senepol breed developed on the island of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands by breeding native N’dama cattle to Red Poll bulls. Senepols are very slick-haired and according to University of Florida research are one of the most heat-tolerant breeds they’ve tested.
Gentry says he started crossing Barzona/Herefords and Senepol/Red Angus around 1989 and it was the mating of those two half-bloods that produced the four-way composite he named South Poll.
“Fertility and longevity account for the numbers one and two traits on a chart of economic importance for the commercial cattleman. So, in our cow/calf operation, those two traits are at the top of our list”, Gentry said.
“Increased selection for growth EPDs in a cow herd leads to larger frame animals that are too big to be efficient as cows. Working for a larger-framed animal or a huge ribeye area in a grass program will adversely affect fertility and longevity, the very things we have placed first on our list,” he says.
South Poll cattle, even though they were developed in the southeast part of the U.S., have proven adaptable in the Southwest and Midwest as well. There are many South Polls in Texas and there are more South Polls in Missouri than any other state. Several years ago a bull was sold to cattleman in Utah who used the bull under extremely harsh conditions in the mountains in southern Utah. The cattle have access to thousands of acres and as a result he only sees them occasionally. He can count on his South Poll bull to lead the cows up and down the mountain and he’s so satisfied with South Polls, he came back for five more bulls.
The foundation for the South Poll breed was built on the very best purebred cattle from each individual breed, with cows that calve year after year with a calving interval of less than 365 days.
The South Poll Grass Cattle Association and its members will never lose sight of the big picture and though we are documenting every aspect of the South Poll breed just as other purebred organizations do, the total purpose of the breed is to provide genetics that can be profitable for the commercial cow/calf producers.
“We will always work hard to make the South Poll breed gentle and efficient. We strive for moderate birth weights, adequate growth and acceptable carcass quality in our cattle and production of high libido bulls. We promise to conduct our business dealings honestly and to assume a leadership role in the education of our youth and the natural production of quality grass-fed beef,” Gentry pledged.
Gentry says, “the further we go into this the more convinced I am that the small, highly-productive, low-maintenance, grass-fed cow is the secret to the cow-calf industry.”
During the development stage of the South Poll breed, Bent Tree Farms ran a grass-fed beef operation named “Burt’s Beef”, named after Teddy Gentry’s grandfather. It is our understanding that a Warner-Bratzler shear force test was performed on each carcass and the tenderness data was used in their breeding program to assure South Polls would produce a tender carcass. During the 2021 SPGCA field day, Dr. Bruce Shanks demonstrated a Warner-Bratzler shear force test on a Sous-Vide cooked South Poll ribeye steak. The result showed incredible tenderness!
In a 2014 a grass-fed beef study, the South Poll scored highest overall of the four breeds sampled for ribeye tenderness, juiciness and flavor. No definite conclusions can be reached based on this very narrow study. However, the data obtained is interesting and may be useful for future research ideas. The most important finding verified that 100% grass-fed beef can be produced without smelling bad, tasting funky and being tough.
Dr. Ron Harrell, Cardiologist, Dothan, Alabama