Simmental Associations ~ ASA 1968; CSA 1969

Canadian Simmental Association (CSA): In the Guest Editorial of Simmental Country, August 1987, Wes Alm wrote:

During the late 1960’s and the formation of the Canadian Simmental Association there were many tireless workers—people with great vision of the future and they were dedicated to the cause of Simmental promotion. / Two individuals that stood tall in the saddle come readily to mind, Dr. Allan Dixon and Travers Smith, men with great fortitude. Their overwhelming enthusiasm for Simmental was contagious and their contribution to the establishment of Simmental in North America was beyond measure in the respective short years they had. (p. 50)

The CSA was founded in 1968. The application for incorporation under the Livestock Pedigree Act was made and subsequently approved on February 29, 1969. The first organizational meeting was held in Calgary on August 1, 1969 following several meetings around the country where the constitution was gradually developed. Fenton Webster recalled:

After some show in the U.S. [1968, Sheridan WY], Ray Woodward, Dale Lynch, Lavon Sumption, Travers and I stayed up all one night putting by-laws together. Travers was determined to do things right and he wanted everything based on performance. Originally, we had an idea to require bulls to index 105 to be recorded, but that, like many other ideas, got watered down. / Lavon and I did all the organizing of that first meeting in Calgary [Aug. 1, 1969]. … Travers was elected the first President and I stayed on as Secretary until we could afford a full time person. (Beef Today Yearbook’77:86)

Traver's hometown newspaper, Cardston Unlimited, of August 27, 1969 (p. 1) reported the founding board of directors as:

    Fenton Webster of Mt. View, Travers Smith of Cardston, Ross Mitchell of Manitoba, Dr. Allen Dixon of Calgary, Lee Rollins of Edmonton, Ted Tremunde of B.C., Hans Ulrich of Claresholm, LeRoy Berry of Sask., and George McLean of Toronto. Dr. Lavon Sumption was elected as honorary President. This group appointed Travers Smith as president and Fenton Webster as Sec. Treas. of the new organization. The office will be in Cardston at the present time. ...
     A delegation from Switzerland was present for the founding of the Canadian Simmental Association. Included were: Dr. Nabholz, Veterinary General of Switzerland, Mr. Herner Hyss, the manager of the Swiss Cattle Breeders Federation (the organization that exports Swiss cattle from Switzerland to many part of the world); Dr. Hans Henger, the president of the Simmental Cattle Association who has also directed the production of a number of films on Swiss Cattle as well as writing several books on them, and Mrs. Hon Henger.
    The meeting also drew in people from points all across Canada and the United States.
    Speaker at the meeting was Dr. Henger who presented Travers Smth with an honorary medal for his efforts in opening the way for bringing the Simmental Breed of Cattle into Canada.
    An evening banquet was attended by 200 people who were served a delicious supper featuring cross-bred Simmental beef.
    The guest speaker for the evening was the Veterinary General of Canada Dr. Kenneth Wells.
    Mr. Wyss presented a lovely hand carved Simmental cow to the associatiion for their office. Dr. Nabholz also spoke expressing appreciation from the group for this opportunity of coming to Canada. ...

From its very beginning, the CSA set out specific rules for cattlemen in an upgrading program through crossbreeding and AI. These rules incorporated many of Travers’ beliefs and credos, including: performance testing, record keeping, and indexing; and his objection to “competitive live shows.”

In a fact-sheet that SBL prepared in response to the myriad inquires it was receiving, the CSA-proposed rules were outlined in brief with the last two stated as follows:

12. Simmental cattle will not be entered in any competitive live shows because the judging criteria of live shows are inconsistent with sound performance selection programs.
13. Simmental may be displayed at exhibitions and fairs for purposes of sales promotion. Performance data will be emphasized.

This objection to competitive shows ran deep with Travers. He felt that show judging had done almost irreparable injury to the British breeds and that Simmental would suffer the same fate if the focus became show judging instead of performance.

Concerning Travers’ long standing objection to show judging, B.Y. Williams wrote:

I was manager of a credit union and also in the cattle business in a small way. We often discussed the adversities of the business, the virtues of the native breeds—and lack of them—and how to make a living out of a beautiful, big, fat “ideal” Hereford cow that turned in a scrawny 350-pound calf at weaning time. Well, Travers’ contention was that the “egg heads” were all wrong. Travers’ contention was that judging cattle by type instead of performance was our ruination. (Simmental Shield:March1974:30)

Current Canadian Simmental Association website is at http://www.simmental.com/
For a historical list of the CSA board of directors see: http://www.simmgene.com/pdf/register/40years_208.pdf

American Simmental Association (ASA): In part, because of greater interest in Simmental in the U.S., the American Simmental Association had been organized in October 1968. In the Farm Quarterly—Spring 1969, Charles R. Koch reported in his “Livestock” column that:

Probably never before in the history of breed associations has there been such an enthusiastic launching of such an organization. The enthusiasm is even more impressive in view of the fact most of the charter members of the association have never seen a purebred Simmental of either sex; that the only representatives of the breed now in this country are F1 calves sired by artificial insemination; … / Nevertheless, some 260 cattlemen from Florida to the State of Washington converged upon the Cosmopolitan Hotel, in Denver, early in January to attend the first annual meeting of this association and a high percentage of them left the meeting as dues-paying charter members at $100.00 per crack.

The Western Livestock Journal of January 1969 reported on the first annual meeting of the American Simmental Association as follows:

Cattlemen jam Simmental meeting
DENVER – The American Simmental Assn. had 34 members up to the coffee-break time at the first annual meeting here, Jan 10.
Approximately 50 people were expected to show up at that meeting but 250 jammed the room, representing almost every major beef breeding state and Canada. … At coffee-break time 84 cattlemen joined the association and before nightfall the membership had increased further, according to Dale Lynch, Cary, Ill., association secretary. …

Current American Simmental Association website is at http://simmental.org/site/
See also Forty Years and Counting at http://www.simmgene.com/pdf/register/40years_208.pdf


bbb year was probably 1970

 

Parisien Progeny

from SBL promotional photo album

Excitement was mounting and by the spring of 1968 (about 1 month before the second group of imports arrived from Grosse-Île for on-farm quarantine), SBL had Parisien calves on the ground¹ and facts to back Travers’ enthusiasm. Parisien’s progeny testing began immediately and the results were all that Travers and SBL had hoped for and expected.

With progeny facts and hundreds of pictures, SBL stepped up its promotional campaign. SBL shareholder Fenton Webster recalled that Ottawa was one of their first stops. They were allotted 20 minutes to meet with the Canadian Minister of Agriculture, Bud Olsen, but their meeting lasted over an hour. They also met with the Veterinary Director General, Dr. Ken Wells, and Fenton wrote: “I’ve never seen such enthusiasm.” But somehow the reception in Canada remained cool. Their first big break came at a Performance Registry International meeting in Sheridan, Wyoming where the interest was keen.²

Travers wrote:

… The success of our venture was due, I am sure, to the need that the ranchers had for this [Simmental] information and their readiness at this time to accept the good news. ... From there on our story criss-crosses the United States and Canada … ³

from Cardston Alberta's local newspaper, Cardston Unlimited, March 20, 1968

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1. The first crossbred, half-simmental calf was born on March 17, 1968 on the K.N. Stewart Ranch near Cardston Alberta to a cow owned by B.Y. Williams. Its birth weight was 70 lbs.
2. Beef Today Yearbook, '77:82
3. "The Importation: Selecting the first Canadian Simmentals" by Travers Smith, Simmental Shield, October 1970, pp. 8-10.

Import Permits ~ 1967

Below are copies of permit info sent to Travers which opened Switzerland to Canadian importers. The 8 SBL shareholder permits brought in 3 Simmental bulls, 4 Simmental heifers, and 1 Brown Swiss bull for the 1967/68 cycle:

1.07: Permit ~ At Last!! (CDA - July 7, 1966)

(From Chp. 1 ~ 1966, titled "Foundation Work," in a book begun several years ago by SMSmith to document the early history of SBL and Simmental in North America.)

Amidst the flurry of continued Simmental research, Travers was anxiously awaiting word on his April 30th request for a permit.¹ When the end of June approached, still without word from the CDA, Travers and B.Y. fired off another letter (29 June 1966).¹ B.Y. Williams remembered it thus:

Two days later Travers got a telephone call from Ottawa with apologies and the information that, due to an error, his permit application had been overlooked but had been granted. He had until August 8 to have his calf in farm quarantine in France. Not much time. Five thousand bucks quick, and something to back it up, and a bull required within less than six weeks. We had no problem with money at the time, not having any. We just decided to raise five hundred dollars each and get the same amount from a like number of friends, and we were in business. / Travers had contacted Charley Redd previously and he had said, “If you ever get a permit, I want to pick the bull for you.” So Travers got on the phone. No dice. Charley Redd’s calendar was full. So Travers booked the next suitable reservation he could get for Berne, Switzerland. Switzerland wasn’t open at the time for export, but he wanted a look at the native breed in the country of their origin.²

At last, under date of July 7, 1966, Travers received his written permit for the “importation of 1 cattle from France.” He was now in a time squeeze because the Brest, France quarantine was to begin September 1. With the CDA requirement of an approximate 30-day on-farm quarantine before the Brest quarantine, he was informed that the selection had to be made no later than Monday, August 8, 1966.

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1. For copies of these letters to the CDA, see post herein of May 19, 2010.
2. Simmental Shield, March 1974:30

1.02: The Importation Process

(From Chp. 1 ~ 1966, titled "Foundation Work," in a book begun several years ago by SMSmith to document the early history of SBL and Simmental in North America.)

Dr. Ken Well's commitment to safe, direct importation resulted in a complex and comprehensive four-stage testing and quarantine procedure.

At the first stage, importers would select unvaccinated calves from French farms, usually in July. These calves would then be subject to on-farm tests and an on-farm, 30-day quarantine under Canadian control. If they passed the on-farm tests, the calves would be moved on to the second stage—to the Maximum Quarantine Facility that Canada had negotiated the use of at Brest, France. There, the calves would be subject to more tests and another 30-day quarantine, again under Canadian control.

Upon passing this second testing, the imports would be shipped by boat from Brest, France across the Atlantic to a maximum quarantine facility that Canada had established on the small island of Grosse-Ile, Quebec, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This Canadian quarantine station—the third stage of testing and control—was ideally suited in its total isolation from mainland Canada. Here the calves—arriving in the fall—would be subject to a 90-day quarantine and observation period; though, in effect, the quarantine would last well beyond the 90 days because the icebound St. Lawrence did not break up till March or April. When transport became possible, the calves would be shipped by boat, along the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City, where they would be greeted by their anxious importers and shipped by rail to their farm destinations. At their Canadian farms, they would undergo the fourth and final stage—a 90-day on-farm quarantine/observation with a group of indigenous control-cattle. The idea of control cattle (also to be used on Grosse-Ile) was that these controls would have no immunity or resistance to foot-and-mouth and would contract it, if there were any threat being carried by the import.

This four-stage process would prove a rigorous and lengthy procedure, consuming about a year between the time of selection in France to the time the imports received clearance after their Canadian farm quarantine. To most importers the time required must have seemed almost unbearable, but the thorough, clearly defined procedures established by Dr. Wells and his staff, laid an indispensable foundation for all that followed.

In the words of Ted Pritchett,

"the feat [Dr. Wells and his staff] accomplished from an animal health point of view was nothing short of remarkable, but to the public, the introduction of the Continental breeds and their impact on the North American beef industry is beyond description."¹

As part of the import program the Canadian government undertook to build the required Maximum Quarantine facility of its own at Grosse-Ile,² Quebec. By 1965 the facility was ready to accommodate 120 head of cattle. Its capacity was expanded in subsequent years as demand escalated.

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1. "Maximum Quarantine" by Ted Pritchett, Simmental Country, August 1987, p. 59. For a more extensive history, see pp. 51, 54-55, 58-59.
2. For a brief history of Grosse-Ile as an animal quarantine and research facility see relevant sections of The Canadian Veterinary Journal, Vol. 42, August 2001, particularly pp. 464-467 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1476563/?page=1

1.01: Laying the Foundation ~ The Charolais Advocates

(From Chp. 1 ~ 1966, titled "Foundation Work," in a book begun several years ago by SMSmith to document the early history of SBL and Simmental in North America.)

"The history of all European breeds in North America is irrevocably linked to Charolais because the original decision to allow the import of this breed from France to Canada opened the possibility for every other breed in the years that followed."¹

Wayne Malmberg (1906-1978) was a southern Alberta cattle rancher who was driven to challenge the commercial status quo of "blocky, compact, fat-producing" cattle. In Malmberg's view, rate of gain and lean meat/fat ratio should be re-evaluated in order to produce better cattle and better profits—the same ideas that would later capture Travers Smith, another southern Alberta rancher, 10 years Malmberg's junior. In his quest for “growthier, vigorous” cattle, Malmberg imported the first Charolais bull (C 15) into Canada from the U.S. in April 1954.² His search soon led him also to the Charolais cattle of France and to becoming a prime mover and pioneer in pushing to open Canada to European importations. Malmberg and his Charolais associates lobbied for several years, but it was not until 1962 or 1963 that direct importation from France was seriously acted upon.

From the Charolais breeders' point-of-view the import decision by the Canadian Department of Agriculture (CDA) had been long in coming. They had been operating from a purebred base using Charolais cattle imported from Mexico and the U.S. for about 11 years, but now they had hope of new seed stock from France, the native home of Charolais.

In prior years the Canadian government's answer to repeated requests had been to stress the impossibility of direct European importation because of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease that seemed part and parcel of the European cattle industry at that time.

For many years in Europe, eradication of foot-and-mouth disease was unsuccessful so the focus became control through vaccination. Such was unacceptable to Canadian authorities. The CDA's memory was still fresh with the enormous losses suffered in a 1952 foot-and-mouth outbreak in Saskatchewan. The International Export embargo against Canada at that time had been swift and costly. It was not something the CDA intended to suffer again. Canada would remain free of foot-and-mouth disease at all costs, thus the desire to find exciting new, genetic material was not considered worth the risk of importing a debilitating disease.

But the CDA was also cognizant of the frustrated "back-door" approach that some Charolais breeders were considering to get new breeding stock into Canada. By transporting French Charolais cattle to the French island of St. Pierre, just south of Newfoundland, breeders hoped to somehow get the offspring of these "transports" into Canada legally. At the time, this strategy seemed the most feasible way to approach the Canadian prohibition against direct importation.³

Dr. Ken Wells, Veterinary Director General of the Health of Animals Branch of the CDA, spoke of Canada's import decision to Ted Pritchett of the Simmental Country magazine, August 1987:

"It all began in 1962 when we attended a meeting of the Charolais Association at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary. They were pushing for direct imports from France and Alvin Hamilton, who was the Minister of Agriculture at the time, agreed in principle to look into the feasibility of establishing a Maximum Quarantine Facility for that purpose. I was directed to investigate what we needed in the way of tests and health programs and facilities." (p. 51)

Rodney James, "a mover-and-shaker" in the Canadian Charolais Association, recalled that it was during a 1963 visit to France, that The Honorable Harry Hays, Minister of the CDA gave directive to Dr. Ken Wells, Veterinary Director General of Canada, to find a way to open up European importation.

In any event, with the Minister's new directive to Dr. Wells, the Canadian government's focus suddenly shifted to the possibilities for direct importation. Fortunately for the cattle industry, Dr. Wells was the proverbial right man in the right place at the right time. His experiences had uniquely prepared him to research and establish—with the help of an able staff—an importation program that would protect the Canadian cattle industry, while at the same time allay the fears of the United States cattle industry.

In the words of Dr. Wells:

"What followed was an incredible amount of investigation, planning and co-ordination with all the people involved in Foot and Mouth disease. We had to work closely with our counterparts in France, gaining their permission for us to conduct the necessary test, according to our requirements and to negotiate the use of the Brest Quarantine facility in France."⁴

So it was that the efforts of Malmberg and his Charolais associates helped set the stage for the first cattle importations from France in 1965/66⁵ and sparked a revolution in the North American cattle industry. Malmberg became known as "Mr. Charolais of Canada."

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1. "The Simmental Story," by Rodney James, Simmental Country, August, 1987, p. 20, hdnote. (See also, http://data.charolais.com/wordpress/index.php/about-2/history/ ; http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/charolais/ . Note however, this Charolais history states 1966/67 as being the first Charolais import year, but other records confirm 1965/66 as the first year. See News and Views: "Charolais Imports — More On the Way" from page 117 of Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Science, Vol. 30(4)— April 1966 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494523/?page=1 See also  New and Views: "Maximum Security Quarantine Station," Vol. 29(7)—July 1965, pp. 191 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494426/?page=2 ; News and Views: "Health Tests Begin on Charolais Cattle," Vol. 29(10)—October 1965, p. 266 at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1494454/?page=1
2. For story on "C 15"  purchased from Clint Ferris at Tie Siding, Wyoming, see White Gold: The Story of Charolais in Canada by Sharon Henwood and Bonnie Carruthers, pub. by the Canadian Charolais Assoc., 1986, pp. 15-6.
3. For additional information, see "The Simmental Story," by Rodney James, Simmental Country, August, 1987, p. 20, 22, & 24.
4. "Maximum Quarantine" by Ted Pritchett, Simmental Country, August 1987, p. 51.
5. Import years are framed as 1965/66, because the cattle were chosen in France in 1965; subjected to various quarantines there; arrived at Grosse-Ile, Quebec Canada in the late fall of that year for a minimum 90-day quarantine; thereafter released to their importers in the early spring of 1966 for a further on-farm quarantine; and finally released into breeding service, usually early summer. It was virtually a year-long process. See references at footnote 1. above to establish 1965/66 at the first import year.