<body><div>The South Poll is an American composite breed created by Teddy Gentry, the founding member of the country music band Alabama. He started developing these hardy cattle in 1989 for his ranch – Bent Tree Farms near Fort Payne, Alabama – because he needed animals that could thrive in the hot, humid summers on fescue pastures. Gentry searched for heat-tolerant breeds to cross with British breeds, bred Barzona to Hereford and Senepol to Red Angus and put those crosses together to create what he called South Poll. His goal was moderate frame, gentle disposition, heat tolerance, tender meat, and ability to produce more pounds of quality beef per acre of grass, with few input costs. Today, there are cattlemen all over the U.S. and in several other countries using South Poll cattle. Paul Stoltzfus and his family raise South Poll cattle on their Lonesome Wind ranch near Roberts, Montana. Moving to Montana in 2021, they started with 400 acres and leased pastures. The Stoltzfus family brought South Poll cattle from Pennsylvania when he and his family moved to Montana. “I had some on our farm there, when the farthest north herd was in Virginia. I was a pioneer with them in Pennsylvania, and again when I brought these to Montana.They are an awesome breed, but I was concerned about how they would do in the winter,” Stoltzfus expressed. After moving to Montana, he found that the South Polls do just as well as the Black and Red Angus they use for breed-up to have some half and ¾ blood South Polls. “We are very impressed with the South Polls; they are doing wonderfully well here. We’ve met people who want to buy heifers, and I think we are soon going to see more of these cattle in the West. My ultimate goal is to sell seedstock, but we are also selling some as grass-finished beef. A local processor, Green Acres Butchering, is buying our grass-finished cattle, selling the beef retail, and we are getting great feedback,” Stoltzfus expressed. The cattle offered as beef are butchered at 26 to 28 months of age. The older animal has “more flavor,” Stoltzfus believes. “We calve in June, and some of our neighbors think we’re crazy, so I just tell them I’m ahead of the game. I don’t wait until January or February when it’s cold! Those calves are two years old that second summer, and they can finish on the best grass,” Stoltzfus said. Calving in the summer creates a warmer environment and less stress. He recounted that the South Poll cattle are easy to calve and “have very few problems.” “I tell people I don’t calve; my cows do that,” he said. “They are good mamas and heat tolerant, and I think the heat tolerance is directly related to being just plain hardy. Even here in the West it can be hot. We had quite a few days this summer that got to 100 degrees or more. These cattle will be out grazing and the Angus are panting, wanting to find some shade, but we don’t always have shade,” Stoltzfus said. He is excited to see the F1 heifers from the Black and Red Angus. When they arrived in Montana, they had 30 South Polls and a semi-load of bred Angus heifers. Stoltzfus has culled hard the last three years, especially with the lack of grass. He has found that there has been a higher percentage of Angus culls than South Poll culls. He feels these cattle will be well accepted by people who want efficient, hardy cattle. “There’s a rancher near Missoula who has smaller-framed Angus cows, looking to do grass-fed beef, and wants to buy South Poll to breed them to. I sold some heifers to a fellow in Hardin, Montana, last year and he traded some to a guy in Minnesota, so they are gradually spreading out,” Stotzfus said. Ranchers need hardy, efficient cattle that don’t need pampering – good mamas but not mean. He emphasized the need for “balance” in a mother cow – docile to allow a producer to work with the calf, but not so docile a cow won’t protect a calf from predators. Paul has a favorite cow that has been in his program from the beginning and has raised many good calves. “She came with us from Pennsylvania and is the nicest cow I’ve ever seen. The only problem for my operation is that she’s only half South Poll, but she has given me 10 bull calves and two heifers. The calves were ¾ South Poll and the heifers I kept. I sold some of her bull calves to folks who wanted a percentage South Poll bull, and I kept a few, but if I use a ¾ South Poll bull, I am not moving forward in my breed-up program,” he explained. “Some people don’t mind having a good ¾ bull, however, and one of her sons is still being used by a farmer in Pennsylvania.” South Poll Cattle are Unique. . . Ralph Voss and his wife Jerry of Voss Land and Cattle Company near Linn, Missouri, first saw South Poll cattle in 2003 when they went to Greg Judy’s farm near Rucker, Missouri, to buy Red Angus cows. “Greg had just bought some South Poll cows from Teddy Gentry, and we fell in love with those cows,” Voss said. “My wife begged Greg to sell her some, but he wouldn’t. So we went to Fort Payne, Alabama, and bought two bulls and five cows from Teddy Gentry. When we met Teddy, he didn’t have much time because his band was getting ready to take a bus trip for a show. His ranch manager, Dave Roberts, showed us around, and it was an impressive operation,” Voss said. To create this composite, Gentry had 1,500 cows. An exceptional cattleman, Voss explained that he had “every conceivable mix” of the four breeds he was using. While the Barzona cattle were “spirited,” he used Hereford cows with the Barzona bulls to bring their temperament down. “When he developed the South Poll, he tried a number of breeds before he settled on Hereford, Angus, Barzona, and Senepol. The way he came up with large numbers of the final four-way cross was to create a large group of Barzona-Hereford females and breed them to Senepol-Angus bulls. That match produced a full-blood South Poll that is referred to as a first-generation animal,” Voss detailed. Gentry truly believed in the breed he was creating, spending money and time for the breed he believed in. Voss explained how he even flew in two plane-loads of Senepol cattle from the Virgin Islands. Gentry bought some Herefords and Barzonas from Frank Felton, a cattle breeder in Maryville, Missouri. The cows had good udders and expressed their longevity as they continued to breed well past normal breeding age. “A 17-year-old cow in our herd is not unusual. Longevity is a trait Teddy really worked at,” Voss said. “If a good cow can stay in the herd longer, you don’t have to replace her very soon; she’s paid for herself and makes you a lot more money than a cow that washes out at age 10 or 12 or even younger. South Poll embody all the important traits to make cattle profitable and have excellent dispositions.” </div></body>

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The South Poll is an American composite breed created by Teddy Gentry, the founding member of the country music band Alabama. He started developing these hardy cattle in 1989 for his ranch – Bent Tree Farms near Fort Payne, Alabama – because he needed animals that could thrive in the hot, humid summers on fescue pastures.

South Poll Cattle – An Efficient Composite Breed

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The South Poll is an American composite breed created by Teddy Gentry, the founding member of the country music band Alabama. He started developing these h

South Poll Cattle – An Efficient Composite Breed

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