One of the early Southern Alberta men who has not received sufficient credit for his vital contributions to the Simmental story in North America is B.Y. (Young) Williams. In this 60th Anniversary year of the coming of Simmental into Canada, it is fitting to remember B.Y. Williams.
In the opinion of Travers' six children, if it hadn’t been for B.Y.’s early assistance to their father, Travers Smith, the extremely tight time-line to get things in order for a 1966 import would, almost certainly, have been missed; thus Parisien would have been missed as being over the 9-month age limit and also vaccinated, both of which by Canadian Health regulations would have disqualified him for importation. And by 1967 there would likely have been dozens of Simmental imports from France because of the excitement of what was happening with Charolais imports from France that had begun in 1965.
Swiss Simmental were already being seriously looked at for importation by Canadian government officials and vets but the import restrictions had not yet been lifted for Switzerland, so the first Simmental dreamers, Travers Smith and B.Y. Williams had to look to France. After a flurry of letters to Swiss and Canadian authorities (typed by B.Y.), Travers travelled to France and Switzerland where he eventually found Parisien on Friday August 5 — an almost 6-month old, unvaccinated calf on the Henri Rossin farm, at Saint Appolinaire, Cote d'Or, France. His sire was a Swiss Simmental import to France and his dam was Pie Rouge (French Simmental), so despite the Swiss import restrictions, Parisien turned out to be 1/2 Swiss.
The export paper work was signed the next day, August 6 and Parisien went in to on-farm quarantine on Monday, August 8. Travers had beaten by one day, the deadline of August 8 to have all things done. When Parisien arrived in Grosse-Ile Quebec (first days of November 1966), for his third stage of quarantine, the cattle boat had 228 Charolais and one Simmental – Parisien.
This gave Parisien and the new SBL company an incredible early advantage. By the next year, 1967, there were dozens of Simmentals coming into Canada (8 permits for SBL itself - one of those permits being in the name of B.Y. Williams).
B.Y. was Travers' first associate in the Simmental project. Travers' first handwritten letter (dated February 21, 1966) of inquiry to the Swiss Cattle Federation was typed-out and improved upon by B.Y. (and dated February 25, 1966). Most subsequent letters to Canadian and Swiss authorities (and there were many) have B.Y.'s initial (w) in the bottom left-hand corner.
Travers was always immensely grateful for B.Y.’s assistance with skills that he, Travers, did not have. Travers had been acquainted with B.Y. several years before they became Simmental associates as B.Y. was a Credit Union colleague of Travers' Uncle (& surrogate father figure) John Sivil Smith. Travers' father had passed away in 1953 when Travers was 36.);
B.Y. took the first colour photos of Parisien after his quarantine in Mountain View, one photo which heads this Simmental history blog.
During and after B.Y. was an SBL shareholder (1966-1970), several significant Simmental events are attached to his name:
1. Travers' second letter from Switzerland (after the one to "Belle & family") reporting his exciting Simmental findings was written to B.Y. – July 31, 1966, 11 P.M. and can be found at https://simmental-sbl.blogspot.com/2010/05/letters-home-byw-2-july-31-1966.html
2. B.Y. wrote many letters in 1966 & 1967 to the Canadian authorities urging the opening of Switzerland to importation. Along with his and Travers' urgings, (and that of others), Switzerland was finally opened for 1967 importation.
3. B.Y. was named as first corporate secretary of SBL on its organization in September 1966;
4.. The very first 1\2 blood Simmental born in North America (March 17, 1967) was owned by B.Y. from a commercial Hereford cow and Parisien (AI).
5. . B.Y. wrote a great tribute to Travers that was read by A byrt Linkletter at the February 1, 1974, ASA Convention in Louisville Kentucky. Travers was sick at the time and passed away 6 days later, February 7.
Without doubt, the Simmental story as many experienced it, especially during the heady 1960s and '70s would not have unfolded as it did without B.Y. Williams.
And lastly, how fitting that Dave Nelson, a grandson of B.Y. Williams, should be the one to repair the taxidermy head of Parisien that will hang in the MV school library as a reminder that dreams of making huge improvements to the cattle industry came true because of dreamers and doers – and B.Y. Williams was both.
