Early Years of Simmental in North America: SBL Field Day ~ 1973

Thursday, November 24, 2011

SBL Field Day ~ 1973

From “Simmental Breeders Hold Field Day” by Leland Cade in the Sept. 6, 1973 issue of the Montana Farmer-Stockman we read:

Simmental Breeders, Ltd of Cardston, Alberta had a big field day recently — 600 people from quite a few states and provinces registered to view the animals, listen to speakers, take part in a big beef feed, and check their numbers for the big door prize — a half-blood Simmental heifer bred to a Simmental bull or a trip for two to the homeland of Simmental (Switzerland) plus $1,000.00 cash for incidentals.

Winner of the prize was Janna McMahon of Kennewick, Washington. …

Dr. Jim Wiltbank of Colorado State University was introduced as “playing a fundamental role in the development of SBL.” During the presentation he said that “Our fundamental purpose is three-fold — to identify superior Simmental bulls, to make use of these bulls in our program, and to make those bulls available for your use. … (pp. 46-7)

SBL was already working on developing its own bull stud. It would become know as Universal Semen Service Ltd.

The following map is from an old printer's draft and was used in some of SBL promotional material.

"Early Years of Simmental in North America" blog © 2010, 2011 by SMSmith. See Creative Commons License at bottom of this column. NOTE: all quotes and resources from others are subject to the terms of their copyrights and do not fall under my CC licensing.

NOTE re photos: Many of the early photos were taken by SBL for their promotional needs. The owners of other photos are not known. If you are the owner of a photo not credited herein, I hope you would extend the courtesy of letting it remain on the site (I will credit you). I am seeking permissions for some known photos that may be posted in due course if permission is obtained. If you have photos that would enhance this blog, please notify me at simm66blog at gmail dot com.

Note: this blog author is aware that Simmental was referenced in North America in the late 1880s and early 1900s, but did not survive as a distinct breed here, thus Simmental became one of the "exotics" in the heady days of the 1960s and '70s.

Chronology: this "blog history" is essentially posted in chronological order of unfolding events, thus it is probably best to begin reading forward from the first posting of May 7, 2010.

See the post of October 15, 2015 describing its recovery and return to its owner nine years after its theft. (This info of the theft is being left on for the historical record.)

We continue to seek information about the taxidermy head of the famous Simmental bull Parisien. It was stolen from the Calgary Stampede grounds in the early morning hours of Friday, July 14, 2006 where it was on loan during the 2006 World Simmental Congress.

Information can be reported anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or the Calgary Police Service at 403-266-1234.

▪ This is a priceless, irreplaceable historical artifact (weighing about 250 to 300 lbs. and mounted, at the time, on a wheeled stand);
▪ It was a prime exhibit of the Cardston and District Historical Society "Court House" Museum and belongs either with its owner, Don Jensen, or on public display in the locale of Parisien’s first Canadian home;
▪ Three other items were stolen at the same time: 1) an approx. 4’x6’ framed photo layout of Parisien (owned by the Canadian Simmental Association in Calgary); 2) a dry-mount picture/storyboard of Rocabar, a son of Parisien, written by Priscilla Hatch (owned by the Cardston & District Historical Society); and 3) a Canadian flag (probably used to camouflage the stolen items). All these items, except for the flag, were unique, one-of-a-kind.
▪ Private collectors or pranksters should not be allowed to continue to benefit from this crime.

Contact / Submissions

If you have a short story or memory of Travers Smith, Parisien, or SBL that you would like posted here, you may contact the author of this blog at: simm66blog at gmail dot com

Please note the following:

▪ not all submissions may be published; depends on various factors including the discretion of blogger SMS
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Creative Commons License

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.