Dairy Industry: American Dairy Industry to 1850

The first herd of one hundred cows arrived in Jamestown in 1611, on a relief ship that landed just four years after the first colonists. While dairy products were not eaten by Native Americans, they were an important source of food to the early colonists, primarily in the form of butter and cheese rather than fluid milk, although total consumption was much lower than in modern times. This was particularly true in the South, where fresh milk spoiled very quickly. In general, milking was done almost entirely in the warmer months, when pastures were high, so milk needed to be turned into longer-term storage products for the winter.