During that fall of 1967 as the Swiss and French cattle imports were being placed in the Brest quarantine, it came to the attention of SBL that there was another significant importation of French Simmental (Pie Rouge)—the buyers being the Canadian government—importing 8 heifers and 4 bulls. The stated purpose was for research only, but to SBL it felt like direct competition from a "deep-pocket" of taxed-funded dollars.
SBL had been enthusiastically open with the CDA, sharing all the information they had, knowing vigorous competition would come soon enough from other private ventures—which was expected and even welcomed from the point-of-view of building the breed. But SBL had not expected the Canadian government to get into the business at ground level. It shook the faith of some that a little back-county group of struggling ranchers had the resources or chutzpah to get themselves on the map, literally and financially.
Jack G. Stothard, Director of the Lacombe Research Station in Alberta, had done the buying in France in July 1967 for the CDA. Their Simmental (Pie Rouge) bull imports from France for 1967/68 were: Pacific, born 12 Dec. 1966; Petunia, born 21 Dec. 1966; Quadrille, born 3 Jan. 1967; Quartier, born 6 Jan. 1967.
But SBL knew they still had a few trumps to keep themselves alive. With their 1966/67 import, Parisien, nearing his final quarantine, and with the breeding progam they had already initiated, SBL would have the first Simmental-sired cross-bred calves in North America dropping before the second batch of Simmental and Pie Rouge imports had finished their quarantines.
But of course everything rested on Parisien and his calves. If the calving was hard; if the calves didn't show gainability; if they lacked eye-appeal; if …, if …, if …, there wouldn't be a whole lot to promote.
In Fenton Webster's words in later years:
We never really had any doubts, but it was a relief to get a good set of calves and that gave us real confidence.1----------------/
1. Beef Today Yearbook, 1977, p. 80
