With Parisien, the only Simmental (Pie Rouge) bull in North America, beginning his final stage of quarantine in Alberta (April to July 1967) the SBL men became intent on getting the word out; and with A.I. being the only way to get Simmental spreading rapidly throughout North America, semen collection began almost immediately. Don Jensen, a local A.I. technician, did the collection until shortly after the on-farm quarantine ended when Parisien was moved to Prairie Breeders (PB) near Calgary—the first company contracted to handle semen collection and distribution.1
 |
| Inspection Certificate releasing Parisien from Canadian on-farm quarantine |
Our first objective in bringing Simmental to this country was to improve our own herds, but after the first bull had arrived we saw the great potential of spreading the breed further through artificial insemination. After some discussion, our group decided to use the personal contact method to tell the story. We had received many pictures on slides from Switzerland of their cattle. We made a slide presentation with a lecture to go along with it and then made our contacts with the A.I. units’ field representatives to set up meeting in different areas. As we progressed with this program, the press and agricultural periodicals gave us good coverage and so the story was spread also by this means.2It soon became evident that the United States was going to be SBL’s best market so SBL went looking for additional organizations to handle the distribution of Parisien's semen. By October 1967, Curtiss Breeding Service in Cary, Illinois was contracted to handle the U.S. distribution of the frozen semen collected by PB.
Of this beginning promotion, Travers wrote:
The Curtiss representatives met me first at Sioux City, Neb. and our first meeting was at O'Neill. The second showing was given the following morning in a ranch house on a refrigerator door. The rancher was immediately sold and ordered enough semen to cover his whole herd. / Excitement continued to follow us as we told our story from place to place through Nebraska and South Dakota and the on to Billings, Mont., where we attended the annual meeting of the Montana Beef Performance Association. We were well received there by 30 or 40 members of that association in a quickly called meeting in a room at the hotel.3
 |
| early interest expressed in a letter to betterbeefbusiness, January 1968 |
SBL's first sheaf of promotional information was an 11 page, legal-size, Swiss-generated compilation of facts, figures, and sales pitch for the Simmental breed called, "The Simmental Story." There were no glossy pictures, just that lengthy, type-written summary. Swiss Cattle Federation brochures were also used for a time.
And of course, as soon as it was possible, the SBL men began breeding their own cattle to Parisien. They knew the proof would be in the progeny.
Subsequent Semen distributors: By the time the second group of imports had arrived (Spring 1968), B.C. Artificial Insemination Centre at Milner, BC (BCAI) and Western Breeders Service Ltd. at Balzac, Alberta (WBS) had also been contracted. In early 1970, Parisien was moved from PB to WBS at Balzac.
Over the next few years, several other breeder services would also become distributors for SBL including: ABS of DeForest, WI; Carnation Breeding Service of Carnation, WA; Cache Valley Breeding Association of Logan, UT; and KABSU of Manhattan, KS.
And during the many long months when Parisien began the promotional tour-circuit, mostly in the U.S., his handler (and SBL's first employee), the A.I. technician, Don Jensen, made the many arrangements to keep collection and distribution flowing steady.
--------------/
1. In 1969, the price per vial for Parisien was listed at $10.00.
2. Simmental Shield, October 1970, p. 9
3. From pp. 9-10 of BTS notes as published in Simmental Shield, October 1970, pp. 8-10
