“The Jesuit Priest, Eusebio Kino, introduced cattle to Baja California in 1679 as part of the missionary effort to establish mission settlements… Milk became a blessing to missionaries in time of need.”
During a food shortage in 1772, Junipero Serra stated that “…milk from the cows and some vegetables from the garden have been [our] chief subsistence.”
In 1776, at the Mission San Gabriel, Father Font wrote that “The cows are very fat and they give much and rich milk, which they [Native American women at the mission] make cheese and very good butter.”