Kerry cattle in the United States

Someone brought up a good point in that we do know that Kerry cattle were in America during the 1800's. This excerpt might be of interest from "Breeds of Livestock in America" by Henry W. Vaughn (1947).

Kerry cattle in the United States
Reuben Haines of Germantown, Pennsylvania, stated in 1818 that he owned a purebred Kerry cow which he had imported that summer from Ireland.¹ Sanford Howard of Boston, Massachusetts, imported a Kerry bull and five heifers in 1859, and in 1860, a bull and two heifers. At the second show of the New England Agricultural Society, held at Concord, New Hampshire, in 1865, Daniel F. Appleton of Ipswich, Massachusetts, won first prize on a Kerry aged bull, and first on a Kerry heifer two years old; and R. Bradley of Battleboro, Vermont, won first on a yearling bull and first on a yearling heifer.² A few other importations were made in more recent times. Elmendorf Farm at Lexington, Kentucky, owned a considerable number of Kerry cattle during 1913 and 1914, the largest herd that was ever developed in this country. However, the breed has never attained any degree of popularity in North America. The American Kerry and Dexter Club was organized in 1911. A herd book was published in 1921 in which 77 Kerries and 323 Dexters are recorded. Following the publishing of this volume the business office of the club was closed.³


¹ Willis P. Hazard: The Jersey, Alderney, and Guernsy Cow, Philadelphia, 1872.
² New England Age Soc., Second Rpt., p. 53.
³ In a letter to the writer dated February 17, 1931, Professor C. S. Plumb, former secretary of the club, states that to his knowledge there are no herds of Kerry cattle and only one herd of Dexters in America.