Parisien
▪ born February 16, 1966 on the Henri Rossin farm, at Saint Appolinaire, Cote d'Or, France
(France Reg. No. 15.891 c982)
▪ weight: January 1, 1968 - 1,770 lbs.; July 1, 1973 - 2,800 lbs.
▪ died December 12, 1978 in Cardston, Alberta Canada
(SBL 1X; CSA #1; ASA #1; progeny over 15,000; 1st Simmental Golden Certified Meat Sire).
It all began with a bull too. Parisien. He’s regarded as the greatest Simmental bull today, not just because he was first, but for what he did and didn’t do in the cattle industry. / He was impressive, himself, and that alone won him a lot of friends at hundreds of shows and exhibits. He was structurally correct, and didn’t have many of the faults found in bulls that followed. / He gave good, growthy calves, that an ordinary cow could have without problems. While he impressed a lot of people, he didn’t get anyone in trouble. He wasn’t an extreme bull, but a useful bull that crossed well on British breeds. He was tailor-made to be a bull to establish a breed. Reflect, if you will, on the position, of not just the Simmental breed, but every breed which was to follow, had Parisien been a very hard calver, left calves that didn’t cross well on British breed cows, or that didn’t grow, or were structurally unsound. If Parisien hadn’t proven successful, it’s doubtful whether there would’ve been a Simmental breed, and all the subsequent changes it brought. (BTY’77:87-88)In the “Guest Editorial” of Simmental Country, August 1987, Wes Alm wrote:
Yes, Parisien arrived on the winds of change. The commercial cattle industry was still suffering from the dwarfism or pony cattle era of the 1950’s. Parisien, and those who followed were the beginning of a Revolution in the bull industry that will be documented in the pages of history for all time. (p. 50)In fact, Parisien became too popular for the liking of some. Miles R. McCarry of Curtiss Breeding Service tells the following:
… We suddenly started hearing rumors that Parisien—and his offspring—were “wilder than hawks.” We never knew who started it. Parisien found a way to stop it. / By this time, he was big, mature, and super-impressive. Travers was displaying him, along with some of his daughters, at several USA shows. We were collecting semen along the way, too. / At Las Vegas, a jump cow ran out from under Parisien. His front feet returned to earth in a hurry. One of his horns narrowly missed me. The other landed squarely on Glenn Allen’s head. / No damage. Glenn’s Stetson cushioned the blow. He walked away without a headache. Or, at least he did until the rumors started anew. Mean bull! Almost killed that Curtiss guy! / That same night, Parisien, with Travers on the lead strap, marched in a parade of exotics at the rodeo held in conjunction with the show. No problems until they got back to the barn. / There, they arrived just [in] time to walk within five or six feet of a Limousin bull celebrating the end of the march by trying to kill his leadsman. / Actually! There were screams, shouts, and blood all over the place. Parisien paid them no heed. He was more interested in getting back to eating hay in his pen! / “Tough bull to handle,” slow-grinned Travers as he hung up the show halter and watched the stand-by rodeo ambulance scream away with the poor Limousin cowboy. / Perhaps he smiled because he knew something that the rest of us were just starting to realize! Parisien was much, much more than a great bull to handle. He was a great bull. Period. …
He launched what has to be the greatest single success story in the entire history of animal agriculture—the story of the Simmental in America. / Who—except maybe Travers Smith—would have bet that Simmental registrations would outnumber those of Polled Herefords less than 20 years after Parisien got here? / That happened last year [1986], you know. And, the Simmental breed out-registered Limousin, Charolais, and Shorthorns combined … moved into third place behind Angus and Hereford. / None of this would have happened if Parisien had turned out to be less than great. … / Parisien was one heckuva bull—for a “Backwoods Guernsey.” Fact is, he’d have been one heckuva bull if he’d been purple-spotted. Honest. (SSh:July 15,1987:6A)
