THE INTRODUCTION OF THE KERRY TO AMERICA. 



Bv Charles S. Plumb. 



Comparatively little has been published concerning the Kerry 

 or Dexter breeds of cattle, especially in America. Undoubtedly 

 until recently, they were regarded as one and the same breed. 

 The earliest record that the writer has discovered of the intro- 

 duction of Kerry cattle to America, is a statement by Reuben 

 Haines, of Germantown, Pennsylvania, in the Memoirs of the 

 Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, published in 1824, in which 

 he states that he had "imported from Ireland the celebrated 

 Kerry cow." 



Mr. Sanford Howard of Boston, Mass. was probably one of 

 the first importers of the Kerry to America. He visited Ireland 

 in 1858 and 1859, and made an importation for Arthur W. 

 Austin of West Roxbury, Mass. In an address before the 

 Norfolk County Agricultural Society, Mr. Howard in 1859 <^^is- 

 cussed the subject of cattle breeding. On this occasion inter- 

 esting reference was made to his observations in Ireland, as 

 applied to the Kerry. Said Mr. Sanford, quoting from the 

 Report of the Mass. Board of Agriculture for 1859: 



"The Kerry breed belongs to the county of that name in 

 Ireland, or more especially to the mountainous portion of that 

 county, where they have probably existed coeval with the present 

 race of human inhabitants. They are very different from the 

 cattle which occupy the lower and more fertile sections of the 

 island — the latter, as has already been observed, belonging to 

 the Longhorn tribe, of large size, the horns drooping, sometimes 

 crossing each other beneath the lower jaw. The Kerries, on 

 the other hand, are small, with horns of medium length, rising, 

 and generally somewhat spreading. The color ranges from 

 black to brindled and red. sometimes with a little white, but 

 black is the prevailing color, and is preferred as denoting the 

 nearest affinity with the original type. The Kerry cow has 

 always been considered remarkable as a milker. Youatt says 

 'she is emphatically the poor man's cow ; hardy, living every- 

 where, yielding, for her size, abundance of milk of good quality.' 

 Milburn says, *she is a treasure to the cottage farmer — so hardy 

 that she will live where other cattle starve. She is a perfect 



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