The Introduction of Cattle into Colonial North America

The scarcity of data relative to the first importations of cattle into Colonial North America has lent obscurity to one of the most interesting phases of early American husbandry.In fact this paucity and incompleteness of information dealing with the introduction of cattle into what is now the United States of America has led many authors in the field of animal and dairy husbandry to an almost studied disregard of this primary stage in the development of our national livestock industry.When it is considered that the foundations of cattle husbandry were laid in every one of the thirteen original colonies and in the south and southwestern part of our present United States before any appreciable progress had been made in the systematic improvement of cattle in England and Continental Europe, the question of where our foundation animals came from should be of more than passing interest.Allen (2) in 1890 in his work, American Cattle, dealt briefly with colonial cattle importations.Bidwell and Falconer (6) in 1925 and Gray (25) in 1933 in their general histories of agriculture in the United States to 1860 have presented a considerable amount of information relative to early importations.It was with the hope of assembling, in one body, additional information on the introduction of cattle into Colonial North America that this review of literature was undertaken.It is quite apparent that Colonial Americans were so busy making economic history that they failed to write sufficiently about it.Authentic records were, in many eases, incidental and are found in several fields.This has increased the difficulty of presenting data that are both complete and accurate.Quotations have been offered frequently in order that a better picture might be had of the actual conditions and circumstances surrounding many of the colonial cattle raising undertakings.It is hardly necessary to point out that this review of literature is incomplete.It is offered at this time, however, with the thought that it may be of some assistance to the teachers of courses in dairy cattle history.]During the period of discovery and colonization there were four possible paths of introduction of cattle into what is now the United States of America.First, from the West Indies to any portion of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coast line.Second, from Mexico into southwestern areas and California.Third, from the French colonies of the St.