At last, with a river boat equipped to maneuver safely through ice-laden waters, the imports were taken to the mainland where most were then shipped by CNR to their destinations. Parisien arrived in Calgary and was trucked to Mountain, View, arriving Friday, April 7, 1967, to the great excitement of Travers and his colleagues. Their plans were to breed him to perhaps as many as 250 females and to draw semen during the quarantine period.
At 14 months of age and weighing 1,200 pounds, he was an attraction of considerable interest and amusement by some who called him “the red and white Holstein.”
The year was 1967, the second year of the European imports and the bull was indeed about as far out of place as a bull could be. Long, lean, tall and not heavily muscled, he was in complete contrast to every beef breed here at the time. Even the new Charolais French imports, while taller and bigger than the British breeds, were thick, and heavily muscled. The domestic Purebred Charolais were tall, long and lean, but their breeders were crossing them with the new French imports to get them thicker, more muscled and heavier boned. / Parisien, it seemed, was the thorn among the roses. In later years, he became just that—only he became a thorn in the side of the established British breeds.1--------/
1. From Beef Today Yearbook ’77:76
