Saturday, December 17, 2011

SBL Legacy

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The full story of the beginnings of Simmental in North America and of SBL will probably never be known because Travers died without recording many of the details. Like many of those involved, he was often too busy to realize that history was being made, and sometimes too mired in the problems of resolving differences in expectation and vision. Travers’ commitment to his own drive and vision probably did not help, but being the kind of man he was, he tried with integrity to do what he felt was right. Yet even with all the problems, SBL grew to a status that few realize even to this day with its extensive land and cattle holdings in southern Alberta and its test facility in Switzerland with Hans Ulrich’s father as manager.

For a time, SBL reigned as the largest and most progressive purebred and percentage Simmental business in North America. And as others have observed, it would not have happened without the great Parisien and his remarkable first offspring. Part of SBL’s success can also be credited to its philosophy. As Don Sylvester wrote in “SBL mean Simmental”:
The [SBL] objective is relatively simple, just the production of superior cattle and the subsequent improvement of cattle and the cattle industry in North America. The significant thing about that objective, and something [Ron] Gibson [General Manager of SBL] and his directors emphasize, is that it puts the profit motive into a secondary position.

“Not that we don’t work hard at showing a profit,” says Gibson, “and we’ve been fairly successful in that area so far, but that isn’t our primary objective.”

Now, a lot of people could make that statement, and a lot of other people wouldn’t believe it. However, coming from Gibson and SBL, it does have credibility. Much of the credibility comes simply from the character of the people involved …

… the seemingly philanthropic objective of SBL may also be the major reason why the operation is so successful on the financial side. At least that’s Gibson’s philosophy. (Nov. 1974:32&34)
Another reason for the SBL success might well be traced back to Travers’ openness to the expertise and opinions of others.
S.B.L.’s success has been built on a firm foundation. From the initial stage of the venture sound advice was sought and utilized. Genetic consultants advised that the operation be built on a broad genetic base.
(“Eleven years later Parisien is still making history” by Edgar Bain, CLJ, Tue. July 11, 1978)
The SBL legacy was also augmented by the construction of Universal Semen Service which developed into one of the best facilities of its kind in the world. Travers, however, never lived to see its best growth.

Also, Travers never lived to see the rough years of 1975 and 1976 when Simmental sales dropped drastically and when SBL was forced to cut back its expansionism. But the down turn was survived by most and Simmental continued its advance—even to this day. And though the golden days of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s will never be repeated, they will ever be remembered with amazement. It was a heady time.
 
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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.