1.01: Laying the Foundation ~ The Charolais Advocates

(From Chp. 1 ~ 1966, titled "Foundation Work," in a book begun several years ago by SMSmith to document the early history of SBL and Simmental in North America.)

"The history of all European breeds in North America is irrevocably linked to Charolais because the original decision to allow the import of this breed from France to Canada opened the possibility for every other breed in the years that followed."¹

Wayne Malmberg (1906-1978) was a southern Alberta cattle rancher who was driven to challenge the commercial status quo of "blocky, compact, fat-producing" cattle. In Malmberg's view, rate of gain and lean meat/fat ratio should be re-evaluated in order to produce better cattle and better profits—the same ideas that would later capture Travers Smith, another southern Alberta rancher, 10 years Malmberg's junior. In his quest for “growthier, vigorous” cattle, Malmberg imported the first Charolais bull (C 15) into Canada from the U.S. in April 1954.² His search soon led him also to the Charolais cattle of France and to becoming a prime mover and pioneer in pushing to open Canada to European importations. Malmberg and his Charolais associates lobbied for several years, but it was not until 1962 or 1963 that direct importation from France was seriously acted upon.

From the Charolais breeders' point-of-view the import decision by the Canadian Department of Agriculture (CDA) had been long in coming. They had been operating from a purebred base using Charolais cattle imported from Mexico and the U.S. for about 11 years, but now they had hope of new seed stock from France, the native home of Charolais.

In prior years the Canadian government's answer to repeated requests had been to stress the impossibility of direct European importation because of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease that seemed part and parcel of the European cattle industry at that time.

For many years in Europe, eradication of foot-and-mouth disease was unsuccessful so the focus became control through vaccination. Such was unacceptable to Canadian authorities. The CDA's memory was still fresh with the enormous losses suffered in a 1952 foot-and-mouth outbreak in Saskatchewan. The International Export embargo against Canada at that time had been swift and costly. It was not something the CDA intended to suffer again. Canada would remain free of foot-and-mouth disease at all costs, thus the desire to find exciting new, genetic material was not considered worth the risk of importing a debilitating disease.

But the CDA was also cognizant of the frustrated "back-door" approach that some Charolais breeders were considering to get new breeding stock into Canada. By transporting French Charolais cattle to the French island of St. Pierre, just south of Newfoundland, breeders hoped to somehow get the offspring of these "transports" into Canada legally. At the time, this strategy seemed the most feasible way to approach the Canadian prohibition against direct importation.³

Dr. Ken Wells, Veterinary Director General of the Health of Animals Branch of the CDA, spoke of Canada's import decision to Ted Pritchett of the Simmental Country magazine, August 1987:

"It all began in 1962 when we attended a meeting of the Charolais Association at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary. They were pushing for direct imports from France and Alvin Hamilton, who was the Minister of Agriculture at the time, agreed in principle to look into the feasibility of establishing a Maximum Quarantine Facility for that purpose. I was directed to investigate what we needed in the way of tests and health programs and facilities." (p. 51)

Rodney James, "a mover-and-shaker" in the Canadian Charolais Association, recalled that it was during a 1963 visit to France, that The Honorable Harry Hays, Minister of the CDA gave directive to Dr. Ken Wells, Veterinary Director General of Canada, to find a way to open up European importation.

In any event, with the Minister's new directive to Dr. Wells, the Canadian government's focus suddenly shifted to the possibilities for direct importation. Fortunately for the cattle industry, Dr. Wells was the proverbial right man in the right place at the right time. His experiences had uniquely prepared him to research and establish—with the help of an able staff—an importation program that would protect the Canadian cattle industry, while at the same time allay the fears of the United States cattle industry.

In the words of Dr. Wells:

"What followed was an incredible amount of investigation, planning and co-ordination with all the people involved in Foot and Mouth disease. We had to work closely with our counterparts in France, gaining their permission for us to conduct the necessary test, according to our requirements and to negotiate the use of the Brest Quarantine facility in France."⁴

So it was that the efforts of Malmberg and his Charolais associates helped set the stage for the first cattle importations from France in 1965/66⁵ and sparked a revolution in the North American cattle industry. Malmberg became known as "Mr. Charolais of Canada."

-------------
1. "The Simmental Story," by Rodney James, Simmental Country, August, 1987, p. 20, hdnote. (See also, http://data.charolais.com/wordpress/index.php/about-2/history/ ; http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/charolais/ . Note however, this Charolais history states 1966/67 as being the first Charolais import year, but other records confirm 1965/66 as the first year. See News and Views: "Charolais Imports — More On the Way" from page 117 of Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Science, Vol. 30(4)— April 1966 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494523/?page=1 See also  New and Views: "Maximum Security Quarantine Station," Vol. 29(7)—July 1965, pp. 191 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494426/?page=2 ; News and Views: "Health Tests Begin on Charolais Cattle," Vol. 29(10)—October 1965, p. 266 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494454/?page=1
2. For story on "C 15"  purchased from Clint Ferris at Tie Siding, Wyoming, see White Gold: The Story of Charolais in Canada by Sharon Henwood and Bonnie Carruthers, pub. by the Canadian Charolais Assoc., 1986, pp. 15-6.
3. For additional information, see "The Simmental Story," by Rodney James, Simmental Country, August, 1987, p. 20, 22, & 24.
4. "Maximum Quarantine" by Ted Pritchett, Simmental Country, August 1987, p. 51.
5. Import years are framed as 1965/66, because the cattle were chosen in France in 1965; subjected to various quarantines there; arrived at Grosse-Ile, Quebec Canada in the late fall of that year for a minimum 90-day quarantine; thereafter released to their importers in the early spring of 1966 for a further on-farm quarantine; and finally released into breeding service, usually early summer. It was virtually a year-long process. See references at footnote 1. above to establish 1965/66 at the first import year.