Wednesday, November 30, 2011

ASA Tribute ~ February 1974

[Written by B.Y. Williams; read by Art Linkletter, February 1, 1974, Louisville, Kentucky]

Success is often the baby of failure, tough going and hard times — in short, perhaps better called adversity. The contribution made by Travers Smith to the revolutionizing of the cattle industry in North America through his introduction of the Simmental breed, which proved so successful that it precipitated the stampede into Exotics — was not an exception.

The writer was Manager of a Credit Union and well acquainted with Travers’ banker across the street, but as the old gag goes, “he held no hard feelings against us for keeping him in the cattle business.” I was also in cattle in a small way, and we often discussed the adversities of the business, the virtues of the native breeds — and lack of them — and how to make a living out of a beautiful, big, fat “ideal” Hereford cow that turned in a scrawny 350 pound calf at weaning time. Well, Travers’ contention was that the “egg heads” were all wrong. Presumptuous, of course. Generations of “improvement in the breed” through the theory that the prettiest cow was necessarily the most valuable had downgraded our native breeds to a financial catastrophe. Travers’ contention was that judges of cattle shows should have been judging Miss America contests. Judging cattle by type instead of performance was our ruination, and he found something right at that time to back him up.

The writer, as well as H. J. Blackmore, friend and neighbor, had done some A.I. crossbreeding with Brown Swiss. “Jim” had a three-quarter Brown Swiss bull calf that showed such phenomenal growth that he asked Travers to weigh him with a bunch Travers had on test out of the best Herefords he could find. Result — the ¾ Brown Swiss x ¼ Hereford March calf weaned 878 pounds on November 14, and the heaviest calf Travers had weaned 525 pounds.

Charolais had opened up imports from France the year before. It was January in ‘66. It was a typical day for chewing the fat — there wasn’t much on the cows — but there is always a bit of time for what is better known in the cattle industry as “shooting the bull,” and we decided in that little bull session to shoot off an application to Ottawa and see if a Brown Swiss Bull wasn’t just as importable as a Charolais.

This letter was just being sealed up and stamped the next day when in comes Travers with a full head of steam. “Hold everything, we’ve got the wrong breed. That application should be for a Simmental.” “A what?” says I. “Say man this application is for an import from France, a cattle import, not from South Africa. Simmental — that’s some kind of Gazelle, isn’t it?” “Look,” says Travers, “I didn’t know any more about them than you do till I picked up this magazine today, and here’s an article by Charley Redd, and another by Bert Hargraves, that just happens to say that Simmentals are the best damn cattle in all of Europe, if not the world.”

I grabbed my dictionary — nothing. I grabbed an encyclopedia — nothing. Oh, yes! just over the page under dairy cattle was one sentence. It said something like “a dual purpose breed native to Switzerland.” “Umph,” I said. “Those two guys should know what they’re talking about even if the encyclopedia doesn’t. We’ll never get a permit any way, so here goes,” and the letter headed for Ottawa for a permit to import one Simmental Bull, whatever that might be.

That was that. No answer — in fact we forgot about it until the middle of June. Travers dropped in one day and I said, “Didn’t those guys in Ottawa ever reply to the application we sent off?” “Never a word,” says he. “Well, I’ll be! — I’ll bet we can write a letter they will reply to anyway.” And we did.

Two days later Travers got, a telephone call from Ottawa with apologies and the information that due to an error, his permit application had been overlooked but had been granted. He had until August the 8th to have his calf in farm quarantine in France. Not much time. Five thousand bucks quick, and something to back it up with as needed, and a bull required within less than six weeks. We had no problem with money at the time, not having any. We just decided to raise $500.00 each and get the same amount from a like number of friends, and we were in business.

Travers had contacted Charley Redd previously and he had said, “If you ever get a permit, I want to pick the bull for you.” So Travers got on the phone. No dice. Charley Redd’s calendar was full, so Travers booked the next suitable reservation he could get, as I recall it, for Berne, Switzerland. Switzerland wasn’t open at the time for export, but he wanted a look at the native breed in the country of origin. He told me later that he got acquainted with the Swiss Cattle Breeders’ Federation officials, and then crossed the border into France.

Enter PARISIEN, The Simmental sire of sires, the only million dollar bull in North America. Travers hunted the country for an available bull calf under nine months of age, which had not been vaccinated for foot and mouth disease, both requirements for export. He finally found one, just barely in time to meet the deadline for entering quarantine. It was Parisien or nothing. So that was it. A curious combination of circumstances, luck, tenacity, judgment, courage, and adherence to an idea and an ideal — better cattle.

As anybody knows who has imported cattle from Europe over the years, cattle, like people, fed on and by bureaucracy, don’t seem to thrive. Parisian arrived in April of 1967, a long geared, well spotted, leggy, THIN critter, but growthy. Travers pulled him into Cardston, Alberta about noon one day, and the “knowing” cattlemen had themselves a good laugh. He was promptly dubbed “The red and white Holstein.”

There have been a lot of laughs since that time — cattlemen counting profits from Simmental.

THANKS, TRAVERS, AND A TRIBUTE TO YOU FOR YOUR IDEA AND YOUR IDEALS.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Recognitions

Travers’ untiring efforts to advance the acceptance of the remarkable Simmental breed in North America soon brought him recognition throughout Canada and the U.S. In the space of seven years, he travelled to hundreds of cities, small towns, and rural living rooms to preach the good news of Simmental. He was the featured speaker at many functions and the recipient of many awards and honors. Four are noted below:
▪ In March 1973, he was honored at BYU and received a plaque inscribed with the words: “Recognition Award For Service To Agriculture, Travers Smith 1973, Brigham Young University Biological And Agricultural Sciences.” The speech presenting him read in part: Travers’s unceasing efforts between 1968 and 1972 to extol the virtues of the Simmental cattle is in large measure responsible for the so-called “Exotic” cattle revolution in North America. / We recognize you, Travers Smith, for your contributions to beef cattle improvements in North America. We acknowledge you as a friend of agriculture at Brigham Young University and present this token of appreciation to you for your lectures and participation during Ag. Week 1973.

▪ At the 4th Annual Meeting of the Montana Simmental Association, Travers was made an honorary member and presented with an engraved trophy-clock. An account in the Simmental Shield of February 1974 reads: [Travers] accepted the award with great humility. Thanks for coming, Travers. (p. 136)

▪ The Canadian Simmental Association presented Travers with a plaque and gavel in recognition of his service as the 1st CSA president.
▪ At the American Simmental Association 6th Annual Convention and Banquet in Louisville, Kentucky, Travers was honored on February 1, 1974 and presented in absentia with a hand-carved wooden Simmental cow from Switzerland. His letter of invitation had read in part: Our Board of Trustees voted unanimously at their last meeting to present you with an award for outstanding service to the American Simmental Association.
Travers & Belle were not present at that ASA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, because the day after Travers mailed acceptance to their letter of invitation he was hospitalized. Despite the eventual diagnosis, Travers had great hopes that he would be healed and be able to attend—to be once again among his friends and fellow-believers in Simmental.

Since Travers’ prayers for recovery were not granted, he composed a message for Belle to send to the gathering that would be honoring him. Belle’s handwritten draft reads:
To Pres. Dale Cutler, all directors, members of A.S.A and all others gathered from Canada and throughout the world. / Praying as I have always done, that God will direct our national, civic and personal lives in attaining a greater performance in service to our fellowmen. / Let us put forth our efforts this night and always to work in this direction, not forgetting that if we do this the blessings of today are but a small portion of what Jesus Christ Our Lord has in store for us both temporally and spiritually. / Let us go now and not fail Him. / Travers Smith.
Noted on the bottom of the draft were the words: Telegram sent to Dale Cutler at the A.S.A Convention the night of Jan 30th 1974.

Art Linkletter, the radio-TV showman and breeder of Simmentals at his Perth Australia ranch read the tribute to Travers (see a later post) that had been written by B.Y. Williams, one of the first investors in SBL. A standing ovation followed the tribute.

Universal Semen Service Ltd.

Meanwhile, despite some internal problems, the work of SBL continued. One on-going concern was to ensure the best possible handling and promotion of their bulls. Because the main focus of private bull studs was often to promote their own bulls, SBL decided in 1972 to build a first-class commercial bull stud that would be available for the top performing bulls in every breed.

This demand for bull studs was fairly new, arising about 1967 with the importation of European bulls. SBL director Frank Smith recalled those days in an interview with the Canadian Livestock Journal (Tue., July 11, 1978):
“Units sprang up overnight because of this demand,” Frank relates, “We had bulls in stud stations in Canada and the U.S.. The quality of the service varied. We became concerned over the safety of the bulls and of the men handling them.” / This sparked the idea of setting up a stud station. This decision was made late in 1972. … / “[As well] poor quality semen results in financial loss to ranchers. We had experienced this ourselves. Our main objective was to produce top quality semen,” Smith affirms. (“Eleven years later Parisien is still making history” by Edgar Bain)
Over the next year, SBL did considerable research. They looked at stud stations in the U.S. and Canada intent on designing a facility that would be unique in construction—focusing on the safety of both bulls and handlers and on the speedy collection of top-quality semen. They found the man they wished to spearhead the project and to supervise construction—Dr. Merlin Gebauer whose doctorate was in reproductive technology.

Construction was begun in 1974 and it began operation in 1975. The result was Universal Semen Service—a state-of-the-art facility located just south of Cardston. Not only did this give SBL both financial and physical control of its valuable bulls, it also provided a much-needed custom facility for other breeders. From “SBL Means Simmental” by Don Sylvester, we read about SBL’s commitment to quality.
Dr. Gebauer says the new stud will emphasize quality control. Owners putting bulls in the stud will have to agree that semen not up to Universal’s standards will not be released. (p. 34)

Monday, November 28, 2011

A Sales Report ~ November 1973

1st page of "The Cover Story" from the
November 1973 The Ranchman

Canadian Western Simmental Sale ~ 1973

Just one sale out of many that kept the sizzle in Simmental. The handwritten notes on sale prices were made by Travers.


the consignors on these two pages were SBL and director Frank Smith


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Import Selections ~ 1973-1976

1973 selections ~ two heifers (in quarantine till 1974);

1974 selections ~ four heifers (in quarantine till 1975);

 1975 selections ~ two bulls (in quarantine till 1976).

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thursday, November 24, 2011

SBL Field Day ~ 1973

From “Simmental Breeders Hold Field Day” by Leland Cade in the Sept. 6, 1973 issue of the Montana Farmer-Stockman we read:
Simmental Breeders, Ltd of Cardston, Alberta had a big field day recently — 600 people from quite a few states and provinces registered to view the animals, listen to speakers, take part in a big beef feed, and check their numbers for the big door prize — a half-blood Simmental heifer bred to a Simmental bull or a trip for two to the homeland of Simmental (Switzerland) plus $1,000.00 cash for incidentals.

Winner of the prize was Janna McMahon of Kennewick, Washington. …

Dr. Jim Wiltbank of Colorado State University was introduced as “playing a fundamental role in the development of SBL.” During the presentation he said that “Our fundamental purpose is three-fold — to identify superior Simmental bulls, to make use of these bulls in our program, and to make those bulls available for your use. … (pp. 46-7)
SBL was already working on developing its own bull stud. It would become know as Universal Semen Service Ltd.

The following map is from an old printer's draft and was used in some of SBL promotional material.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

ASA National Sire Summary ~ 1973

~
In the foreword of the ASA's 1973 National Sire Summary, Don Vaniman, executive secretary of the ASA, wrote, in part:
... The American Simmental Association was the first to recognize the need to improve the economic traits of cattle by informing its members of the genetic differences of its registered sires. The National Simmental Sire Summary is still the first publication of its kind ever printed by an American breed society. The others are contemplating its benefits – but the Simmental breed has actually accomplished it.

This Sire Summary will completely change methods of breeding, selecting, exhibiting and selling of Simmental cattle. It will keep the honest cowman in business and eliminate the exploiter who would promote valueless bulls by hard sell advertising and sharp management practices but which would not stand up genetically in the Simmental performance testing procedures.

This Summary will not only benefit those purebred breeders who wish to become “master breeders,” instead of just “multipliers,” but will also immeasurably benefit the commercial cattleman who has to make a living by raising profitable cattle. …

This Summary is an improvement over last year and subsequent summaries will be even more meaningful. This represents only the second year of the National Simmental Sire Summary …
Page 9 of the 116-page Summary set forth the ASA rules and percentage chart as pictured below:

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Swiss Cattle Breeders ~ Promotions

For a few years, Travers acted as the official Canadian representative of the Commission of Swiss Cattle Breeders Federations as they promoted the benefits of this new “very old” breed. Two of their ads are shown below. The publications are unknown, but believed to be from the years 1972 and 1973.


circa 1972 (?)

circa 1973


Monday, November 21, 2011

The National Simmental Sale ~ 1972

The inside cover of “the National Simmental Sale at Fort Worth, Texas/February 5/1972” brochure gives some idea of the interest and growth of Simmental in just a few incredibly busy years.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Performance Testing for Mankind

Travers' love of his God and his belief that performance testing was not just for livestock was evident to almost all who knew him. His enthusiasm for sharing his beliefs is borne out in the following accounts.

The first comes from the John Schmidt’s … agriculture Alberta column (Calgary Herald) of September 20, 1972. John Schmidt wrote about a cattlemen tour
deep into Mormon country to visit … Simmental Breeders Cardston Ltd., headed by Travers Smith. ... Following lunch, something happened which caught us off base in this computer age, but it demonstrated the fact that cattle men like Travers Smith don’t put all their faith in electronic gadgetry. There is something higher. He presented us all with The Book of Mormon, and gave this profound testimony: “There is one thing more valuable to me than that herd of cattle you saw today. It is this Book. In it you can read about the performance test of human endeavor on this earth.” It was something to make one pause and consider very deeply.
The second account was recorded by Travers' eldest daughter following a December 21, 1973 conversation. On the way home from the Calgary airport, Travers told his daughters about his recent experience in Billings, Montana. His daughter wrote:
The Montana Simmental Assoc. had a conference at which they honored dad in October. ... All the men at the convention were wearing “Thank You Travers” buttons. Mr. Furgeson, the secretary of the organization said a lot, & kind of instigated the affair. When Mr. Furgeson presented Dad with the trophy[-clock] honoring him. He said Dad could answer in only 12 words. [Previously Mr. F. had given Dad a bad time about not being a good enough salesman (not talking enough)]. When Dad replied, he said that he was going to pull a switch on Mr. F. and say a lot. Dad said that the spirit there was really a good spirit so he felt moved to speak on more of a spiritual [plane]. He spoke about performance testing in cattle & compared it to us as God’s children & our performance tests. He referred them to the Bible as being our handbook for personal performance. He also expressed to them that it was by the hand of the Lord that he brought Parisien to Canada. After his testimony the men all came forward and thanked him for his talk not the cattle. The men also honored Mr. Furgeson for all that he had done to keep M.S.A. on its feet. (BYSJ:Jan 9, 1974:44-5)
A third account comes from Tom and Dianne Risinger found at http://www.simmgene.com/pdf/register/40years_208.pdf :
… About the same time, we ran into Charlie Redd from Utah, who had just come back from Europe and he was raving about the Simmental cattle he saw. One day, a really nice, smart, and very intense man named Travers Smith from Cardston, Alberta, came to our house to visit with us about Simmental Cattle. He wore a suit coat with a Book of Mormon in one pocket and a photo album of Simmental cattle in the other. Here was an honest, sincere man who was definitely on a mission and believed in what he was doing. At a meeting in town that night where Travers spoke, we ordered 20 units of semen on a yellow paint calf named Parisien that, at the time, was still waiting to be released from quarantine by Canadian agricultural authorities. ...

... I’ll never forget Travers Smith. He came to visit us when we had only 40 cows and they weren’t even paid for. He had time for anyone who would listen to him. (Tom & Dianne Risinger “40 Years and counting, Part II” by Dan Rieder)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Beef Bull of the Month

In a flyer dated 2-10-72, Curtiss Breeding Service named Parisien as the Curtiss Beef Bull of the Month. The top of the flyer featured a Walt Browarny picture of Parisien and the text of the flyer is shown below:


Friday, November 18, 2011

Linear Measurement

In the Simmental Country magazine, September 1980, pp. 20-28, an article entitled “Linear Measurements for Progress” detailed some of the early history of a method of performance prediction and evaluation that had “now emerged as an additional tool to help evaluate the size of an animal and give some new dimension to the weight standards.” The early pioneers of Linear Measurements were:
1)“Jan C. Bonsma of South Africa, one of the foremost genetists and leading authorities of beef cattle ecology in the world” whose system provided the average cattleman “with a fast and accurate method of evaluation”;
2) “Burl Winchester, an astute record keeping and livestock evaluation man” who had successfully used linear measurements in the evaluation of purebred Southdown sheeps; and
3) “Karney Redman, a man that had been involved with cattle measurement for many years.”
The early groundwork on linear measurement was well underway by the late 1930s, but it was not till 1969 that Winchester and Redman teamed up to apply Winchester’s system to cattle through extensive research, measurements, and comparisons to carcass information.

That was about the same time that Travers was looking for improved selection tools. He soon became aware of Karney Redman and his theories. The measurement system seemed a logical and scientific asset to progressive cattlemen. And since Travers was open to any tools that might better predict potential and performance, he was a strong advocate of Karney’s insights.

Many others were also interested in Linear Measurement and in 1982, “the first bovine linear measurement seminar in Canada was help on March 31, 1982 in Springbank – West of Calgary – sponsored by Kemna Ranches. The key speaker, Karney J. Redman, the pioneer of this system taught the 40 producers in attendance many practical skills; ...” (as reported in the Simmental Country, May 1982, p. 54)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Expansion and Assets of the SBL Operation ~ 1971

In the minutes of a director's meetng of SBL held at Cardston on August 20, 1971 a motion was made and carried to purchase land from 4 Southern Alberta land owners: V.J. Zemp, G.D. Beazer, R.H. Jensen, and O.J. Jensen. The total purchase price was listed as $206,750.00.

In October 6, 1971 minutes, the directors proceeded to reorganize SBL Inc. (an American company) which had been organized at a prior time.

Soon thereafter, because of differences in vision and expectations, the directors of SBL decided to explore selling the SBL Canadian company. In a three-page folio (apparently prepared by Travers), SBL was described as:
The assets listed on the attached sheet have been put together as a result of an idea or dream to give service to the cattle industry in North America. The main objective in mind was to breed and select the highest producing beef cattle possible, using as a base the cattle available on this continent to introduce the Simmental from Europe.

We have a program that has developed over the past five years to the point where we have a fair size facility in Switzerland and two men working for us there full time, including Mr. Hans Ulrich Sr., one of the outstanding cattlemen in Europe. Mr. Ulrich selects the cattle for us and manages the facility. This year we had 65 head of cattle pre-selected in the station but the demand was so great we should have had over 200 animals for the 1971-72 importation. We were able to select a total of over 110 head of calves for ourselves and other importers. We feel this program is of great value to this company now and will continue to do so in the future.

After the middle of December, 1971, the ranch operation we have developed will consist only of half blood Simmental females. This program has a two fold purpose. One is for evaluation of our sires, and the other is to select only the best of the high producing females to use in an upgrading program in accordance with the rules of both the Canadian and American Simmental Associations. With the opportunity of selecting and culling from such a large number of high producing animals, we will come up with some outstanding sires for semen production.

To aid in our sire evaluation program, we have two large herds of commercial cows in the State of Montana that have been bred A.I. using semen from all of our sires. The results of this program will provide us with sound information as to our sires standing as herd improvers.
Our purebred program is gaining impetus, and we will have about 22 to 24 head of females to calve this coming spring. As a result of our import work, we will have approximately 50 head of purebred calves born in the spring of 1973. Due to our sire evaluation program, we feel we can produce in the near future far better bulls from this purebred herd that we can obtain in Europe, because we are beginning to find out what our cows and sires can really produce. We foresee that within four years we will have well over 100 head of purebred Simmental cows.

Our promotion has included newspaper and magazine advertising and the printing of a four color brochure that has created a great deal of interest. A new brochure, listing additional bulls, has now gone to press. We have exhibited some of our top bulls in shows clear across the United States.

Our large mailing list contains the names of persons who are interested in using Simmental. This is a real asset to our business.

We feel that overall we have a first class management team carrying on our business and ranch operations. This group of people would be an asset to any organization and they are informed of the objectives and hopes of a continuing Simmental breed program at SBL.

It is our opinion that, with a combination of the various programs outlined herein, any company acquiring this business would receive a boost in the cattle breeding industry which they could not obtain by any other move.
A “Statement of Assets ...” formed the third page of the folio:

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

SBL Newsletter Notes ~ 1971, 1972

From undated copy: (Nov. or Dec. 1971):

We ordered new hats at S.B.L. when five Parisien steers won the 1971 National Beef Futurity Show at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ten breeds were represented in groups of five. The average slaughter age was 441 days. The Parisien steers had the highest carcass weight per day of age. The second place group were also Simmental crossbred steers out of the S.B.L. bull Sultan. …

From March 1972:
Bidding was keen at the Fort Worth, Texas “Simmental Saturday Night Sale” on February 5th. The following is a summary of the sale results:
6 Purebred bull calves—avg ....... $ 27,100.00
1 Bred ¾ Heifer .................. $ 12,500.00
23 ¾ Open Heifers—avg......... $ 6,374.00
7 ½ Blood Cows with ¾ calves—avg... $ 5,264.00
80 Bred ½ Blood heifers—avg...... $ 1,833.00
9 ½ Blood Open Heifers—avg..... $ 1,250.00
We are proud to announce that we received $53,000.00 for our purebred bull calf which sold to Houston, February 25, 1972. This calf was sired by Beat out of Petula, May 22, 1971. The two ¾ blood heifers which we sold averaged $7,000.00.

With results like this, who can afford not to “Breed ‘em all Simmental”!!

Last December, SBL sold their commercial cow herd and our ranch operation now consists solely of percentage Simmental females. This program has a two-fold purpose. One is to furnish data for evaluation of our SBL sires, and the other is to select only the best of the high producing females to use in an upgrading program. To assist us in this program, we are using a comprehensive computerized record system to store and evaluate data obtained in our program.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Where the bulls were ... (1971)

The Simmental Shield magazine, October 1971 (pp. 62-4) gives a comprehensive listing of where the Simmental bulls were toward the end of 1971. A red dot makes those belonging to SBL.



from Simmental Shield magazine, October 1971, pp. 62-64

Monday, November 14, 2011

Show Circuit ~ Summer/Fall 1971

The hand-written notes are in Travers’ handwriting and perhaps indicate potential or actual attendance numbers at each show.

More Travels & Promotion

Travers continued his trips to Switzerland to research and select cattle as import permits were issued. Three of the trips that can be documented are:
 June / July 1970 – France, Switzerland, and Germany. (Post Card: June 26/70, & Passport: July 1, 1970)
 June / July 1972 –Switzerland, Germany, and England with Hans Ulrich. (MSA Newsletter: June 27, 1972)
 April / May 1973 – France and Switzerland on cattle business (accompanied by three of his children).
Travers’ greater contribution, however, was as he travelled from town to town and farm to farm in both Canada and the U.S. promoting the remarkable Simmental. He also attended many events at which he often spoke. He was a regular attendee at the annual meetings of both the American and Canadian Simmental Associations, ranging from Denver to Fort Worth to Regina Saskatchewan and beyond.

The Simmental Scene, March 1974 gives some idea of the passion Travers had for Simmental.
… After the arrival of Parisien in 1967, Travers devoted endless hours, days and weeks to the promotion and development of Simmental throughout North America. It was because of his tireless efforts that the nickname Travelling Travers was tacked on this forceful, dynamic man. Wherever Travers could find someone who would listen, he expounded on the value of Simmental. He presented talks all over the continent; around kitchen tables with pictures projected on the wall to mass meetings with several hundred in attendance. Travers was instrumental in the formation of the Canadian Simmental Association and was one of the men whose signature appears on the application for incorporation under the Canada Pedigree Act. Travers served as First Vice President on the first [interim] Board of Directors and on August 2nd, 1969 was elected President of the Canadian Simmental Association. He served as a director for three years. (p. 13)

SBL ad from Simmental Shield magazine, October 1971


More Imports ~ 1971-1973, Travels, Promotion

The 1971/72 Simmental imports (in quarantine till Spring 1972) were ten in total:

Bulls:
Date of Calving
Vic MM3796 (SBL 004B; ASA 46164; CSA )
7 Dec 1970
Brut MM 834 (SBL 005B; ASA 46163; CSA )
27 Dec 1970

Heifers:
Date of Calving
Rea
n/a
Lady
n/a
Netta
n/a
Pfau
n/a
Gerdrut
n/a
Donau
n/a
Themse
n/a
Bona
n/a

In 1972/73, ten heifers were imported (in quarantine till 1973).

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Association Directors ~ 1971

In the Simmental Shield magazine, October 1971, p. 4, the officers and trustees of the Simmental associations were listed as:



cover of meeting agenda

CSA ~ 2nd AGM Report

~
from Cattlemen: The Beef Magazine,
January 1971, p. 20

Friday, November 11, 2011

Where the Bulls were ... (1970)

~
Red dot on left indicates an SBL bull.

from Simmental Shield magazine, August 1970, pp. 16-17

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Bull Stud Services

~
Before SBL finally decided to build its own bull stud (USSL,1974-75), its bulls were scattered in various bull studs at various times and semen available through contracted distributors.

Curtiss Breeding Service ad in
betterbeefbusiness July 1970

from Simmental Shield magazine August 1970, p. 45

SBL ad in betterbeefbusiness October 1970

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Performance Reports ~ 1970

The 12-page SBL promo brochure for circa 1970 was full of b&w pictures and performance stats. Here are pages 8-11:

Imports selected ~ 1970

The 1970 Simmental imports (in quarantine till Spring 1971) were six in total:

Bulls:
Date of Calving
Donald MM3254 (SBL 70A; ASA 10144; CSA )
4 Dec 1969
Romeo MM5967 (SBL 71A; ASA 10146; CSA )
13 Dec 1969

Heifers:
Date of Calving
Elsbeth  (CSA  217)
n/a
Meta  (CSA  218)
n/a
Blosch  (CSA  219)
n/a
Margreth  (CSA  241)
n/a

However, in the SBL 1971/72 brochure, there is another bull import listed for 1970, being Rex (Dar 1A) CSA # 165, ASA #10142, born December 8, 1969 and weighing 1565 lbs. on Sept. 2, 1971. His captian reads: "Considered by many to be the most impressive bull imported in 1971-72. Rex was one of the two bulls selected by SBL from the group of 70 selected by the Swiss Federation. [Donald was the other.] The captian for Romeo reads "SBL's selecion from our performance tested group of 15 head in Switzerland."

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

More Progeny Performance Reports

~
from betterbeefbusiness, january 1970, p. 19
1969 CSA flyer
Congratulations Shinrone! was the focus of a Curtiss Breeding Service ad in the Simmental Shield of November 1971, p. 11. The ad showed Browarny photos of Sultan (Second Place Sire Group), Parisien (First Place Sire Group) and Firn (Sixth Place Sire Group) ~ all SBL owned bulls. The clip below explains:
The Simmental Shield magazine, October 1971 (p. 6) also reported the Shinrone story and added:
Simmental-sired cattle also placed well at the recent Nebraska State Fair. The Sultan bull sired the Grand Champion steer, and another Simmental Breeders Cardston Ltd. bull, Galant, sired the Reserve Grand Champion.

Testing & the Test Facility in Europe

Travers’ fascination with facts to back his enthusiasm resulted in early testing of SBL bulls and in the establishment of an SBL test facility in Europe. In speaking of SBL’s commitment to performance testing, Don Jensen is again quoted:
The 2,000 head [of SBL cattle] included a test herd of 700 cows used to test the genetic potential of the bull battery. We didn’t want the maternal side to influence the test results so Travers brought up Red Angus-Hereford cows from Nebraska. Each of the seven bulls we had by this time were bred to 100 cows and the results gave us factual information on the bulls that we offered to our customers. / … Hans Ulrich was one of the people involved in the operation then and his father lived in Switzerland. SBL built a test facility over there and hired Hans’ father to manage it for them so they could pre-select the calves they brought over. They would buy about 200 calves, put them on test, then select only the top 10% of those to import. The operation became something on a very far-reaching scale. (SC:Aug1987:44)
With its European test facility, SBL was soon able to provide performance data on their imports even before importation took place. In their brochure of 1971-72, entitled, “Simmental from SBL,” they wrote:
As owners and directors of SBL, we are pleased to present our 1971-72 Simmental Beef Sire brochure. This marks our fifth year of importing from Europe and our third year of performance testing in Switzerland. / We are not aware of any other testing program to evaluate Simmental cattle for import to North America that compares with the SBL program. Mr. Hans Ulrich Sr., a reputable Swiss cattle breeder, is employed full time by SBL and carries out our comprehensive system of selection. / These pre-selected calves are then placed on a 100-day feed test. Following the test, the calves are indexed, measured and carefully scrutinized. Only the very best meet or exceed SBL’s requirements. (IFC)
SBL was also promoting its ability to select import animals for other breeders who wanted to import from Europe with a minimum of worry and a maximum of assurance for quality. In a 1971 SBL newsletter, they wrote:
S.B.L. has provided service in selecting animals in Switzerland, France, Austria and Germany; but only in Switzerland do we have an S.B.L. selection and testing program. / In our opinion Switzerland still remains the number one Simmental seed stock country of the world. Switzerland provides the greatest number of animals to select from. / S.B.L. in co-operation with the Swiss Breeders Federation have set up their own selection and testing program in Switzerland. Cattle breeders from Canada and the United States who have visited Switzerland have been high in their praise of the S.B.L. Swiss program. We have endeavored to provide the best possible animals for our customers …
SBL ad in betterbeefbusiness ~ June 1970

Monday, November 7, 2011

Words in Print

B. Travers Smith
June 2, 1972
During this decade, Travers published an article called, “Selecting the First Canadian Simmental” in the Simmental Shield, October 1970, and another called, “New Dawn for the Cowman” in the August 12, 1972 issue of the magazine, Commercial West (pp. 49-50).

In the Simmental Shield article, Travers wrote:
Our story has grown as we have traveled from place to place and met with ranchers with down-to-earth experiences, and spent from one hour to three hours at each meeting, sometimes with one man, sometimes with 40 or 50. In meetings with college and university students there have been upwards of a hundred in a group. Future Farmers of America and 4-H groups with their leaders, the university groups and their professors along with them, all seem anxious to hear the story and take the good tidings to someone else. One meeting we remember in particular was held at Augusta, Mont. where 30 ranchers met together for three hours. At the end of the meeting, one of the ranchers said that it was the best time he had had in years. We picked up a lot of good, practical information from management practices of ranchers and other experiences told at meetings and to others.

So our story has grown—not just on Simmental alone, but a story of the cattle industry and how we can improve it from one end to the other. ...

We have also been privileged to tell the story at other conventions of cattlemen, such as P.R.I. at Sheridan, Wyo.; on two occasions at Dr. Ensminger’s Beef Science School in Phoenix; a program shown at the Curtiss booth at the livestock show in Denver; Western Stock Growers’ Convention at Calgary, Alta., and a Beef Science School at Banff, Alta. We have also given presentations at A.I. technician schools back and forth across the land, but most of all the story has spread by word of mouth. People have seen the calves that have been dropped from Simmental matings with almost every breed you can imagine in the United States and Canada – from Austin Rugge’s Shorthorn cows at Garnett, Kan., to Adam Schweitzer’s Simmental-Hereford crosses at Geyser, Mon. People have seen our own calves here in southern Alberta, the purebred heifers here, and also the bulls at the A.I. studs.

All of these things spread the story, and it keeps being told over and over. We are so enthused over the possibilities of this breed that we will keep telling the story, and those who have calves on the ground and others who are interested will continue to tell the story for us. (p. 10)
For a time, SBL also produced a newsletter about the successes of Simmental. SBL’s belief in the value of Simmental was borne out time after time in performance testing programs, as well as in carcass weights. Several grand and reserve championships were won by 4-H members and by others who participated in showring and other competitive events.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

SBL Employees

Besides the irreplaceable Beatrice Tolley who had been hired as secretary in 1969, other valuable employees were brought in like Ron Gibson as Director of Ranching Operations (January 1971); and when Ron assumed the position of General Manager of SBL in February 1972, Howard Traweek took over as Director of Ranching Operations. Both had come from the U.S. Range and Livestock Experimental Station at Miles City, Montana. Ron was an honors graduate of Montana State University and had worked at the Miles City Station as the Assistant Superintendent.

These key employees as well as many others played a major role in the efficient management and incredible growth of SBL. Don Sylvester in “SBL means Simmental” observed:
In addition to the emphasis on top quality cattle, there is little doubt that another of the major reasons for the success of SBL is the emphasis on top quality people in both the management and the operation side of the business … / … “Our whole program is more of a people program than anything else,” says [Ron] Gibson. “We couldn’t do any of this without the quality of people we have.” (Nov.1974:34)

Friday, November 4, 2011

A Good Investment

Because Travers’ reception in his native country of Canada was so skeptical and cool in the beginning, most of his efforts had been focused on promoting Simmental in the United States where the cattlemen seemed ready for change. But as the winds of this new phenomenon began to blow northward, the Canadians finally caught on and “Exotic” became the watchword. Those impressive calves on the ground could no longer be ignored. As Ted Pritchett put it:
For semen sales, the golden year was 1970-71. Travers went on the road selling semen and total sales were over $1 million that year. Everywhere, cattlemen, that had for years scorned crossbreeding, AI and any hint of a change of breeds, were jumping in. Much of it was to take advantage of the unbelievable prices being paid for the halfblood females, but many were drawn for the same reason which drew Travers and his original followers to the breed. There was a definite economic advantage to crossbreeding with these cattle and it meant more money in the fall at sale time. (BTY’77:87)
SBL had proven a valuable investment even in the space of a few short years. Four of the initial investors, Williams, Williams, Bingham, & Bowlby had had a falling out early on and in the buy-out of their shares negotiated in 1970 (paid in semi-annual installments from 1970 to 1974), some received upwards of a 270-fold increase on their initial $500.00 investment. (Ref: BTS notes)

By October 21, 1971, a statement of assets set forth a value of $4,800,000.00 for SBL assets which is all the more remarkable considering that SBL was just 5 years old—and that initial investors had bought in for $500.00. One old cowboy in the Pincher Creek, Alberta area who had rejected Travers’ call to invest lamented some years later:
Can you imagine! I could’ve been a part of Parisien for 500 bucks. A million dollar bull and I could’ve been in on it for $500.00. (BTY’77:78)
Ted Pritchett wrote:
Today, Simmental is a “rags to riches” story — the Cinderella of the cattle industry. Starting in 1967 it was laughed at, put down and even during the boom years, told the bubble would burst and it would be left sitting in the cold. The fledgeling Association, started on a shoestring in 1969, has grown in a few short years, to become the fastest growing breed Association in Canada. (BTY’77:87)
About this rapid growth, Don Jensen is quoted as saying:
When I started working for Travers, I really didn’t know who was going to sign my first paycheque and in the space of three years, the outfit had grown to an operation with 10,000 acres and 300 cows. (SC:Aug1987:44)
Jack Ball wrote:
It was a time we’d never seen before and doubt if I’ll ever see again. Every one was buying “time.” Everyone was trying to get the first ½ blood, the first ¾, then the first Purebred … / … it was the most changing and exciting time. Many, many new products and techniques which we take for granted today were developed at that time. For example, how many rubber ear tags, goose neck trailers and embryo transfers did you use before 1967? (SC:Aug1987:114)
In part, because of Travers’ aggressive approach to grasping opportunities as they came, SBL soon had in excess of 12,000 acres of leased and deeded land with 25 employees and 2,000 head of cattle. (Ref: CLJ:Jul11’78-Bain & SC:Aug1987:44)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

On Tour ~ The Show Circuit

One of the great SBL promotional tactics was to tour Parisien to the various shows where his impressive size and unique appearance were guaranteed to attract attention. Don Jensen, SBL’s first employee and a man whom Travers greatly admired for his expertise and dedication, was Parisien’s chief handler. Don, a fine cattlemen in his own right, logged tens of thousands of miles with Parisien. With all the travelling required, Don sacrificed much in the cause of Simmental and the SBL men were immensely grateful for his loyalty and dedication.

The premier showing in the U.S. took place in December 1969, when Don and Parisien travelled to the 1st Annual International Cattlemen’s Expo in Las Vegas. In January 1970 they continued on to the Arizona National Show in Phoenix; and the National Western Show in Denver. (ref: BBB:Nov1969:3; WLJ:Jan.1970:68; CU:Dec.1969) The circuit took them also to Dallas, Fort Worth and many other places. The most convincing part of the Simmental story was told by Parisien himself. Fenton Webster recalled:
That first year, in Denver [at the National Western Show], there were hundreds of people going by the main pathways. Hereford and Angus breeders would go by in a big group. You could spot them coming by their badges and hat bands. They’d laugh and poke fun, but later they’d come back, one by one, to have a closer look and ask questions. Travers could really get that job done, because he was about as converted a Hereford man as you could find anywhere.1
As the enthusiasm for Simmental spread, it was not long before Parisien found himself being transported via freight elevators up to the top floors of grand hotels where he would be escorted into packed ballrooms of cattlemen—to be gazed upon by the admiring and awestruck dinner guests. It was the beginning of an incredible golden age in the cattle industry.

The Phoenix Gazette of January 1970 reported on this first tour as follows:
NEW BREED FOR U.S.Simmentals To Be Seen At Livestock Show Here
When they tell you there's something new at the Arizona National Livestock Show Jan. 5-11 … you’d better believe it.
It’s a brand-new breed for U.S. shows … the Simmental.
Harold Watson, a director of the Simmental Breeders of Cardston, Alberta, Canada, was the first arrival for the 1970 show yesterday at the fairground.
He brought along three head of pure-bred stock and two cross-bred heifers. …
At year’s end (1970), they were again at the International Cattlemen’s Expo in Las Vegas, and in January 1971, they continued on to other shows and events such as the ASA 3rd Annual Convention in Denver where Parisien was a star attraction. By February they were at the Fort Worth Stock Show, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, and the Houston Show. Travers’ second son travelled some on that circuit and received page 2-F coverage in the San Antonio News of Friday, February 19, 1971. The report claimed that 5-year-old Parisien had netted SBL some $1,200,000.00 in semen sales since he was purchased in France in 1967 [1966].

Don and Parisien were on the road again in the summer of 1971. From Travers’ Daytimer, we read that on August 25, 1971, Parisien cleared the border on his way to Colorado.

Although Parisien got much of the press, other SBL bulls, like Gallant, Granit and Mars, as well as some females, were also taken on some of the show circuits, usually accompanied by Don Jensen. A listing of the SBL Show Circuit for 1971 shows that between August and November, bulls were shown at major fairs in Montana, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.

From two interviews with Fenton Webster and Don Jensen, respectively (reported and written by Ted Pritchett), we read:
Parisien became the most travelled and talked about bull in the cattle industry. “It was remarkable how well he travelled—he seemed to enjoy it.” … / “Don and I [Fenton Webster] were in Kansas City and a local TV station had us on for a half-hour show. That went out to over 35,000 people in the immediate area and we had an old fellow come down to the barn on crutches. He’d been in hospital and seen the show and got his doctor talked into letting him out so he could come down to the barn. He said he just had to see that bull!” (BTY’77:84)

… Everywhere he went, Parisien was the talk of the barn and attracted huge crowds. It was an exciting time in the cattle business. / “He enjoyed it. It didn’t matter how many times a day you got him up, old Parisien would look his best for the people and never batted an eye. After 10 days at a show, he’d sense when you were packing up to leave and he’d get restless. I [Don Jensen] remember once when we were packing, we had the trailer close by so we just let him go and he walked over to the trailer, went up the ramp, and walked in all by himself.” (SC:Aug’87:44)
In a small publication celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Simmental in Canada, entitled, Simmental Breeders: 1992 Special Feature (Simmental Digest 1992), Gaylene Groeneveld wrote:
Jensen recalls on one occasion, he had the bull [Parisien] at the Denver Stock Show and took him outside the building to show him off a little. The crowd that gathered for that two-hour period never stopped flashing their cameras. The response was unreal. (p. 20)
From Ted Pritchett:
Don [Jensen] admits other bulls could have done what Parisien had done, but feels there has not been another bull to do it overall so well. / “Fortunately for all of us, he was good in all the important traits for getting a new breed off the ground. He was an impressive bull that liked to be on display and we received excellent press coverage everywhere we went. At three years, he was 2,500 pounds and that was about 500 pounds bigger than anything else and you didn’t have to be an expert to see he was something special. Just the size and eye appeal endeared him to a lot of people. Then after that, he was an easy calver that dispelled the notion you couldn’t get a Simmental calf out of a commercial cow.” (SC:Aug1987:48)
The SBL “Fullblood Cow, Bred Heifer Dispersal and Bull Sale” catalogue of April 21, 1981 gives a brief history of the pioneers of SBL and makes these references to those travellin’ days:
The late Travers Smith, President of S.B.L., was the “Daddy” of the Simmental breed in North America. … / Don [Jensen] and Travers traveled thousand of miles convincing cattlemen of the merits of Simmental. Parisien himself traveled over 100,000 miles, Don reckons, attending all major State fairs in the U.S. Travers would stand in front of the display for 18 hours straight until his ankles were like stove pipes explaining the advantage of Simmental to anyone who would stop even for an instant. He would then invite anyone showing sincere interest to his room to see slides that were taken in Europe of Simmental cattle and halfblood calves at the ranch at Cardston. / Travers was dedicated to the expansion and betterment of the breed across North America. The greatest evidence of this was his determination that everyone should have the opportunity to use the best Simmental bulls. (IBC)

There were others also, besides Don & Travers, who did some touring and promotion at the shows and meetings: chiefly, Fenton Webster, Harold Watson, and sometimes Dale Lynch.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

1st Progeny Export ~ Amor 1A

August 1970 proved a high-profile month for SBL, with Tuesday, August 11th also being an historic day in U.S. cattle history. That was the day that Amor 1A, a year-old bull sired by Parisien, crossed the Alberta-Montana border as the first fullblood Simmental import into the United States. He had been sold by SBL to a private U.S. syndicate called Simmental Breeders of North America comprising Oklahoma (1) and Texas (6) cattlemen for a record price of $154,000.00 U.S. It was a great day in the rapidly unfolding story of Simmental in North America.

The story with picture was covered by the Lethbridge Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta) in the August 12, 1970 edition, second section, p. 15.
Sale of Amor - August 11, 1970
L to R: Ruben Reyes, Albert West, Jesse Malone, Travers Smith
Photo © Lethbridge Herald - used with permission
(ownership & copyright retained by Lethbridge Herald)

ad in Simmental Shield magazine, August 1970, p. 18
Bert Reyes & Travers Smith with Amor
 

 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Bea Tolley

Beatrice Tolley was hired as SBL’s secretary in May 1969. She lived west of Mountain View, Alberta and commuted to the small, unpretentious SBL office on 2 Ave West—just off Cardston’s main street. Her hiring was long overdue for the amount of work had become overwhelming. SBL director Fenton Webster recalled:
Letters began flooding the SBL office at the rate of over 110 a day. “We were working 18-20 hours a day trying to keep up with the correspondence. It was an exciting time. The term “Breed ‘Em All Simmental” came out of our office at that time. We were putting an ad together, and needing a headline when Bea Tolley said, “Breed ‘em all Simmental.” We liked it, and it stuck.” (Beef Today Yearbook’77:86)
Beatrice was a valued and indispensable employee. She helped keep the SBL head above the flood of correspondence, telephone inquiry, scheduling, administrative matters, etc. that were overwhelming the new company. She was highly efficient with whatever was required of her; and her quick-witted “Breed ‘em all Simmental” has become a catchphrase in the industry.

The picture below is from the last page of a 12-page brochure produced by SBL in the year 1970—the first real SBL brochure. It replaced a folio of photocopied pages and series of photo albums used at information meetings prior to 1970. The brochure was full of black and white pictures and performance testing results. The only spot of color was in their logo as seen below. However, interest and income were picking up rapidly and by about 1971 SBL was into full-color, professional brochures.


(address and phone number above are no longer valid for SBL)
 
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Early Years of Simmental in North America blog by SMSmith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.