Where the Bulls were ... (1970)

~
Red dot on left indicates an SBL bull.

from Simmental Shield magazine, August 1970, pp. 16-17

Bull Stud Services

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Before SBL finally decided to build its own bull stud (USSL,1974-75), its bulls were scattered in various bull studs at various times and semen available through contracted distributors.


Curtiss Breeding Service ad in
betterbeefbusiness July 1970



from Simmental Shield magazine August 1970, p. 45

SBL ad in betterbeefbusiness October 1970

Performance Reports ~ 1970

The 12-page SBL promo brochure for circa 1970 was full of b&w pictures and performance stats. Here are pages 8-11:

Imports selected ~ 1970

The 1970 Simmental imports (in quarantine till Spring 1971) were six in total:

Bulls:	Date of Calving
Donald MM3254 (SBL 70A; ASA 10144; CSA )	4 Dec 1969
Romeo MM5967 (SBL 71A; ASA 10146; CSA )	13 Dec 1969

Heifers:	Date of Calving
Elsbeth  (CSA  217)	n/a
Meta  (CSA  218)	n/a
Blosch  (CSA  219)	n/a
Margreth  (CSA  241)	n/a

However, in the SBL 1971/72 brochure, there is another bull import listed for 1970, being Rex (Dar 1A) CSA # 165, ASA #10142, born December 8, 1969 and weighing 1565 lbs. on Sept. 2, 1971. His captian reads: "Considered by many to be the most impressive bull imported in 1971-72. Rex was one of the two bulls selected by SBL from the group of 70 selected by the Swiss Federation. [Donald was the other.] The captian for Romeo reads "SBL's selecion from our performance tested group of 15 head in Switzerland."

More Progeny Performance Reports

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from betterbeefbusiness, january 1970, p. 19

1969 CSA flyer

Congratulations Shinrone! was the focus of a Curtiss Breeding Service ad in the Simmental Shield of November 1971, p. 11. The ad showed Browarny photos of Sultan (Second Place Sire Group), Parisien (First Place Sire Group) and Firn (Sixth Place Sire Group) ~ all SBL owned bulls. The clip below explains:

The Simmental Shield magazine, October 1971 (p. 6) also reported the Shinrone story and added:

Simmental-sired cattle also placed well at the recent Nebraska State Fair. The Sultan bull sired the Grand Champion steer, and another Simmental Breeders Cardston Ltd. bull, Galant, sired the Reserve Grand Champion.

Testing & the Test Facility in Europe

Travers’ fascination with facts to back his enthusiasm resulted in early testing of SBL bulls and in the establishment of an SBL test facility in Europe. In speaking of SBL’s commitment to performance testing, Don Jensen is again quoted:

The 2,000 head [of SBL cattle] included a test herd of 700 cows used to test the genetic potential of the bull battery. We didn’t want the maternal side to influence the test results so Travers brought up Red Angus-Hereford cows from Nebraska. Each of the seven bulls we had by this time were bred to 100 cows and the results gave us factual information on the bulls that we offered to our customers. / … Hans Ulrich was one of the people involved in the operation then and his father lived in Switzerland. SBL built a test facility over there and hired Hans’ father to manage it for them so they could pre-select the calves they brought over. They would buy about 200 calves, put them on test, then select only the top 10% of those to import. The operation became something on a very far-reaching scale. (SC:Aug1987:44)

With its European test facility, SBL was soon able to provide performance data on their imports even before importation took place. In their brochure of 1971-72, entitled, “Simmental from SBL,” they wrote:

As owners and directors of SBL, we are pleased to present our 1971-72 Simmental Beef Sire brochure. This marks our fifth year of importing from Europe and our third year of performance testing in Switzerland. / We are not aware of any other testing program to evaluate Simmental cattle for import to North America that compares with the SBL program. Mr. Hans Ulrich Sr., a reputable Swiss cattle breeder, is employed full time by SBL and carries out our comprehensive system of selection. / These pre-selected calves are then placed on a 100-day feed test. Following the test, the calves are indexed, measured and carefully scrutinized. Only the very best meet or exceed SBL’s requirements. (IFC)

SBL was also promoting its ability to select import animals for other breeders who wanted to import from Europe with a minimum of worry and a maximum of assurance for quality. In a 1971 SBL newsletter, they wrote:

S.B.L. has provided service in selecting animals in Switzerland, France, Austria and Germany; but only in Switzerland do we have an S.B.L. selection and testing program. / In our opinion Switzerland still remains the number one Simmental seed stock country of the world. Switzerland provides the greatest number of animals to select from. / S.B.L. in co-operation with the Swiss Breeders Federation have set up their own selection and testing program in Switzerland. Cattle breeders from Canada and the United States who have visited Switzerland have been high in their praise of the S.B.L. Swiss program. We have endeavored to provide the best possible animals for our customers …

SBL ad in betterbeefbusiness ~ June 1970

Words in Print

B. Travers Smith
June 2, 1972

During this decade, Travers published an article called, “Selecting the First Canadian Simmental” in the Simmental Shield, October 1970, and another called, “New Dawn for the Cowman” in the August 12, 1972 issue of the magazine, Commercial West (pp. 49-50).

In the Simmental Shield article, Travers wrote:

Our story has grown as we have traveled from place to place and met with ranchers with down-to-earth experiences, and spent from one hour to three hours at each meeting, sometimes with one man, sometimes with 40 or 50. In meetings with college and university students there have been upwards of a hundred in a group. Future Farmers of America and 4-H groups with their leaders, the university groups and their professors along with them, all seem anxious to hear the story and take the good tidings to someone else. One meeting we remember in particular was held at Augusta, Mont. where 30 ranchers met together for three hours. At the end of the meeting, one of the ranchers said that it was the best time he had had in years. We picked up a lot of good, practical information from management practices of ranchers and other experiences told at meetings and to others.

So our story has grown—not just on Simmental alone, but a story of the cattle industry and how we can improve it from one end to the other. ...

We have also been privileged to tell the story at other conventions of cattlemen, such as P.R.I. at Sheridan, Wyo.; on two occasions at Dr. Ensminger’s Beef Science School in Phoenix; a program shown at the Curtiss booth at the livestock show in Denver; Western Stock Growers’ Convention at Calgary, Alta., and a Beef Science School at Banff, Alta. We have also given presentations at A.I. technician schools back and forth across the land, but most of all the story has spread by word of mouth. People have seen the calves that have been dropped from Simmental matings with almost every breed you can imagine in the United States and Canada – from Austin Rugge’s Shorthorn cows at Garnett, Kan., to Adam Schweitzer’s Simmental-Hereford crosses at Geyser, Mon. People have seen our own calves here in southern Alberta, the purebred heifers here, and also the bulls at the A.I. studs.

All of these things spread the story, and it keeps being told over and over. We are so enthused over the possibilities of this breed that we will keep telling the story, and those who have calves on the ground and others who are interested will continue to tell the story for us. (p. 10)

For a time, SBL also produced a newsletter about the successes of Simmental. SBL’s belief in the value of Simmental was borne out time after time in performance testing programs, as well as in carcass weights. Several grand and reserve championships were won by 4-H members and by others who participated in showring and other competitive events.

SBL Employees

Besides the irreplaceable Beatrice Tolley who had been hired as secretary in 1969, and Don Jensen (SBL's first employee in 1967 and Parisien's chief handler while touring), other valuable employees were brought in like Ron Gibson as Director of Ranching Operations (January 1971); and when Ron assumed the position of General Manager of SBL in February 1972, Howard Traweek took over as Director of Ranching Operations. Both had come from the U.S. Range and Livestock Experimental Station at Miles City, Montana. Ron was an honors graduate of Montana State University and had worked at the Miles City Station as the Assistant Superintendent.

These key employees as well as many others played a major role in the efficient management and incredible growth of SBL. Don Sylvester in “SBL means Simmental” observed:

In addition to the emphasis on top quality cattle, there is little doubt that another of the major reasons for the success of SBL is the emphasis on top quality people in both the management and the operation side of the business … / … “Our whole program is more of a people program than anything else,” says [Ron] Gibson. “We couldn’t do any of this without the quality of people we have.” (Nov.1974:34)

A Good Investment

Because Travers’ reception in his native country of Canada was so skeptical and cool in the beginning, most of his efforts had been focused on promoting Simmental in the United States where the cattlemen seemed ready for change. But as the winds of this new phenomenon began to blow northward, the Canadians finally caught on and “Exotic” became the watchword. Those impressive calves on the ground could no longer be ignored. As Ted Pritchett put it:

For semen sales, the golden year was 1970-71. Travers went on the road selling semen and total sales were over $1 million that year. Everywhere, cattlemen, that had for years scorned crossbreeding, AI and any hint of a change of breeds, were jumping in. Much of it was to take advantage of the unbelievable prices being paid for the halfblood females, but many were drawn for the same reason which drew Travers and his original followers to the breed. There was a definite economic advantage to crossbreeding with these cattle and it meant more money in the fall at sale time. (BTY’77:87)

SBL had proven a valuable investment even in the space of a few short years. Four of the initial investors, Williams, Williams, Bingham, & Bowlby had had a falling out early on and in the buy-out of their shares negotiated in 1970 (paid in semi-annual installments from 1970 to 1974), some received upwards of a 270-fold increase on their initial $500.00 investment. (Ref: BTS notes)

By October 21, 1971, a statement of assets set forth a value of $4,800,000.00 for SBL assets which is all the more remarkable considering that SBL was just 5 years old—and that initial investors had bought in for $500.00. One old cowboy in the Pincher Creek, Alberta area who had rejected Travers’ call to invest lamented some years later:

Can you imagine! I could’ve been a part of Parisien for 500 bucks. A million dollar bull and I could’ve been in on it for $500.00. (BTY’77:78)

Ted Pritchett wrote:

Today, Simmental is a “rags to riches” story — the Cinderella of the cattle industry. Starting in 1967 it was laughed at, put down and even during the boom years, told the bubble would burst and it would be left sitting in the cold. The fledgeling Association, started on a shoestring in 1969, has grown in a few short years, to become the fastest growing breed Association in Canada. (BTY’77:87)

About this rapid growth, Don Jensen is quoted as saying:

When I started working for Travers, I really didn’t know who was going to sign my first paycheque and in the space of three years, the outfit had grown to an operation with 10,000 acres and 300 cows. (SC:Aug1987:44)

Jack Ball wrote:

It was a time we’d never seen before and doubt if I’ll ever see again. Every one was buying “time.” Everyone was trying to get the first ½ blood, the first ¾, then the first Purebred … / … it was the most changing and exciting time. Many, many new products and techniques which we take for granted today were developed at that time. For example, how many rubber ear tags, goose neck trailers and embryo transfers did you use before 1967? (SC:Aug1987:114)

In part, because of Travers’ aggressive approach to grasping opportunities as they came, SBL soon had in excess of 12,000 acres of leased and deeded land with 25 employees and 2,000 head of cattle. (Ref: CLJ:Jul11’78-Bain & SC:Aug1987:44)

On Tour ~ The Show Circuit

One of the great SBL promotional tactics was to tour Parisien to the various shows where his impressive size and unique appearance were guaranteed to attract attention. Don Jensen, SBL’s first employee and a man whom Travers greatly admired for his expertise and dedication, was Parisien’s chief handler. Don, a fine cattlemen in his own right, logged tens of thousands of miles with Parisien. With all the travelling required, Don sacrificed much in the cause of Simmental and the SBL men were immensely grateful for his loyalty and dedication.

The premier showing in the U.S. took place in December 1969, when Don and Parisien travelled to the 1st Annual International Cattlemen’s Expo in Las Vegas. In January 1970 they continued on to the Arizona National Show in Phoenix; and the National Western Show in Denver. (ref: BBB:Nov1969:3; WLJ:Jan.1970:68; CU:Dec.1969) The circuit took them also to Dallas, Fort Worth and many other places. The most convincing part of the Simmental story was told by Parisien himself. Fenton Webster recalled:

That first year, in Denver [at the National Western Show], there were hundreds of people going by the main pathways. Hereford and Angus breeders would go by in a big group. You could spot them coming by their badges and hat bands. They’d laugh and poke fun, but later they’d come back, one by one, to have a closer look and ask questions. Travers could really get that job done, because he was about as converted a Hereford man as you could find anywhere.¹

As the enthusiasm for Simmental spread, it was not long before Parisien found himself being transported via freight elevators up to the top floors of grand hotels where he would be escorted into packed ballrooms of cattlemen—to be gazed upon by the admiring and awestruck dinner guests. It was the beginning of an incredible golden age in the cattle industry.

The Phoenix Gazette of January 1970 reported on this first tour as follows:

NEW BREED FOR U.S.Simmentals To Be Seen At Livestock Show Here
When they tell you there's something new at the Arizona National Livestock Show Jan. 5-11 … you’d better believe it.
It’s a brand-new breed for U.S. shows … the Simmental.
Harold Watson, a director of the Simmental Breeders of Cardston, Alberta, Canada, was the first arrival for the 1970 show yesterday at the fairground.
He brought along three head of pure-bred stock and two cross-bred heifers. …

At year’s end (1970), they were again at the International Cattlemen’s Expo in Las Vegas, and in January 1971, they continued on to other shows and events such as the ASA 3rd Annual Convention in Denver where Parisien was a star attraction. By February they were at the Fort Worth Stock Show, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, and the Houston Show. Travers’ second son travelled some on that circuit and received page 2-F coverage in the San Antonio News of Friday, February 19, 1971. The report claimed that 5-year-old Parisien had netted SBL some $1,200,000.00 in semen sales since he was purchased in France in 1967 [1966].

Don and Parisien were on the road again in the summer of 1971. From Travers’ Daytimer, we read that on August 25, 1971, Parisien cleared the border on his way to Colorado.

Although Parisien got much of the press, other SBL bulls, like Gallant, Granit and Mars, as well as some females, were also taken on some of the show circuits, usually accompanied by Don Jensen. A listing of the SBL Show Circuit for 1971 shows that between August and November, bulls were shown at major fairs in Montana, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.

From two interviews with Fenton Webster and Don Jensen, respectively (reported and written by Ted Pritchett), we read:

Parisien became the most travelled and talked about bull in the cattle industry. “It was remarkable how well he travelled—he seemed to enjoy it.” … / “Don and I [Fenton Webster] were in Kansas City and a local TV station had us on for a half-hour show. That went out to over 35,000 people in the immediate area and we had an old fellow come down to the barn on crutches. He’d been in hospital and seen the show and got his doctor talked into letting him out so he could come down to the barn. He said he just had to see that bull!” (BTY’77:84)

… Everywhere he went, Parisien was the talk of the barn and attracted huge crowds. It was an exciting time in the cattle business. / “He enjoyed it. It didn’t matter how many times a day you got him up, old Parisien would look his best for the people and never batted an eye. After 10 days at a show, he’d sense when you were packing up to leave and he’d get restless. I [Don Jensen] remember once when we were packing, we had the trailer close by so we just let him go and he walked over to the trailer, went up the ramp, and walked in all by himself.” (SC:Aug’87:44)

In a small publication celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Simmental in Canada, entitled, Simmental Breeders: 1992 Special Feature (Simmental Digest 1992), Gaylene Groeneveld wrote:

Jensen recalls on one occasion, he had the bull [Parisien] at the Denver Stock Show and took him outside the building to show him off a little. The crowd that gathered for that two-hour period never stopped flashing their cameras. The response was unreal. (p. 20)

From Ted Pritchett:

Don [Jensen] admits other bulls could have done what Parisien had done, but feels there has not been another bull to do it overall so well. / “Fortunately for all of us, he was good in all the important traits for getting a new breed off the ground. He was an impressive bull that liked to be on display and we received excellent press coverage everywhere we went. At three years, he was 2,500 pounds and that was about 500 pounds bigger than anything else and you didn’t have to be an expert to see he was something special. Just the size and eye appeal endeared him to a lot of people. Then after that, he was an easy calver that dispelled the notion you couldn’t get a Simmental calf out of a commercial cow.” (SC:Aug1987:48)

The SBL “Fullblood Cow, Bred Heifer Dispersal and Bull Sale” catalogue of April 21, 1981 gives a brief history of the pioneers of SBL and makes these references to those travellin’ days:

The late Travers Smith, President of S.B.L., was the “Daddy” of the Simmental breed in North America. … / Don [Jensen] and Travers traveled thousand of miles convincing cattlemen of the merits of Simmental. Parisien himself traveled over 100,000 miles, Don reckons, attending all major State fairs in the U.S. Travers would stand in front of the display for 18 hours straight until his ankles were like stove pipes explaining the advantage of Simmental to anyone who would stop even for an instant. He would then invite anyone showing sincere interest to his room to see slides that were taken in Europe of Simmental cattle and halfblood calves at the ranch at Cardston. / Travers was dedicated to the expansion and betterment of the breed across North America. The greatest evidence of this was his determination that everyone should have the opportunity to use the best Simmental bulls. (IBC)

There were others also, besides Don & Travers, who did some touring and promotion at the shows and meetings: chiefly, Fenton Webster, Harold Watson, and sometimes Dale Lynch.

1st Progeny Export ~ Amor 1A

August 1970 proved a high-profile month for SBL, with Tuesday, August 11th also being an historic day in U.S. cattle history. That was the day that Amor 1A, a year-old bull sired by Parisien, crossed the Alberta-Montana border as the first fullblood Simmental import into the United States. He had been sold by SBL to a private U.S. syndicate called Simmental Breeders of North America comprising Oklahoma (1) and Texas (6) cattlemen for a record price of $154,000.00 U.S. It was a great day in the rapidly unfolding story of Simmental in North America.

The story with picture was covered by the Lethbridge Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta) in the August 12, 1970 edition, second section, p. 15.

Sale of Amor - August 11, 1970
L to R: Ruben Reyes, Albert West, Jesse Malone, Travers Smith
Photo © Lethbridge Herald - used with permission
(ownership & copyright retained by Lethbridge Herald)

ad in Simmental Shield magazine, August 1970, p. 18
Bert Reyes & Travers Smith with Amor

 

 

Bea Tolley

Beatrice Tolley was hired as SBL’s secretary in May 1969. She lived west of Mountain View, Alberta and commuted to the small, unpretentious SBL office on 2 Ave West—just off Cardston’s main street. Her hiring was long overdue for the amount of work had become overwhelming. SBL director Fenton Webster recalled:

Letters began flooding the SBL office at the rate of over 110 a day. “We were working 18-20 hours a day trying to keep up with the correspondence. It was an exciting time. The term “Breed ‘Em All Simmental” came out of our office at that time. We were putting an ad together, and needing a headline when Bea Tolley said, “Breed ‘em all Simmental.” We liked it, and it stuck.” (Beef Today Yearbook’77:86)

Beatrice was a valued and indispensable employee. She helped keep the SBL head above the flood of correspondence, telephone inquiry, scheduling, administrative matters, etc. that were overwhelming the new company. She was highly efficient with whatever was required of her; and her quick-witted “Breed ‘em all Simmental” has become a catchphrase in the industry.

The picture below is from the last page of a 12-page brochure produced by SBL in the year 1970—the first real SBL brochure. It replaced a folio of photocopied pages and series of photo albums used at information meetings prior to 1970. The brochure was full of black and white pictures and performance testing results. The only spot of color was in their logo as seen below. However, interest and income were picking up rapidly and by about 1971 SBL was into full-color, professional brochures.

(address and phone number above are no longer valid for SBL)

The Slide-Show & Pitch

Along with printed materials, Travers most aggressive pitch was his slide show presentation. The 26 slides have long disappeared, but the script (lecture) of 3 pages (legal length) with 26 points begins thus:



Most of page 1 of the slide-show script


Points (& slides) 5 through 14 profile the Simmental traits (gentleness-5, meat-carrying conformation6-7, hardiness-8, fertility-9, dual purpose-10, high butterfat milk for max. calf growth-11, weight gains on mostly forage feed-12, performance standards-13, bull markets-14); and 15 to 26 make comparisons:



portion of page 2 of the slide-show script




all of page 3 of the slide-show script



Show & Tell Circuit

In the beginning, with Parisien in quarantine, SBL didn’t have a lot to show except brochures and pictures from Switzerland. Thus, there was one “soon-to-be-available” bull and a whole lot of talk (that some thought might just be bull, too) with slides .

But for Travers, it was a story whose time had come and negatives did not faze him. He knew what he knew. He just needed cross-bred facts to sink the message home. As it was, one bull was going to have to carry the Simmental message for a whole year pretty much by himself. His would be the first cross-bred Simmental calves on North American soil. The first to be compared. The first to test the performance waters. The first to prove the enthusiasm. The first to knock up against the entrenched N.A. breed practices.

In the meantime, dissemination of information was critical. The first SBL brochures were apparently supplied by the Swiss Cattle Breeders Federation with SBL appending its name, though soon SBL’s name was part of the Swiss printing.

Front & back covers of 4-page brochures used by SBL circa 1967-69

With the demand for more information, SBL soon wrote up legal-length, loose-leaf folios to hand out. By 1969 they had their own mostly black-and-white, 12-page brochure with pictures and performance testing data.

Back & front covers of an SBL 4-page brochure, circa 1969

back cover of a Swiss-printed, 8-page brochure, circa 1970

By about 1970, SBL had professional brochures, beautifully photographed and planned by Walt Browarny Photographics, Calgary. Each year required updates to profile new imports. (I am hoping to be able to repoduce the covers of these to insert here at some future date.)
--------------/
1. Beef Today Yearbook: ’77:84

Imports selected ~ 1969

Travers' passport shows that he was again in Switzerland by July 11, 1969 making final selection for that import year. His Swiss colleagues would have laid the ground work before this buying trip so the way was again well-prepared for the selection of top-performing cattle.

The 1969 Simmental imports (in quarantine till Spring 1970) were:

Bulls:	Date of Calving
Beat MM2911 (SBL 8Z; ASA 216; CSA 41)	8 Dec 1968
Granit MM7503 (SBL 9Z; ASA 217; CSA 45)	24 Dec 1968
Mars MM5840 (SBL 41A; ASA 218; CSA 48)	6 Jan 1969
Kilian MM2491 (SBL 45A; ASA 219; CSA 47)	23 Jan 1969

Heifers:	Date of Calving
Daniela (CSA 39)	n/a
Fasan (CSA 40)	n/a
Berna  (CSA 42)	n/a
Bergere  (CSA  43)	n/a
Diana  (CSA  44)	n/a
Jolanda  (CSA 46)	n/a

- bottom portion of an SBL ad in the Simmental Shield magazine, March 1971 (inside cover)
- top portion of the ad featured the 1969/70 imported bulls: Mars, Beat, Granit, & Kilian

First Sale ~ Dr. Allan Dixon

In November 1968, Dr. Allan Dixon (a Calgary doctor with a ranch west of Nanton) bought 13 of SBL’s first crossbred calves right off their dams for the almost unheard of price of $500.00 each. That news item alone injected considerable interest in this new breed, building on the mounting interest generated at the Calgary Stampede the previous July when the Lacombe Research station had displayed a fullblood cow and calf. Canadian ranchers were beginning to be persuaded, but not in time to come within the 1968/69 import year. The 1968 permits for Simmental had already been issued—only 9 of them—with 8 going to SBL and 1 to Dr. Dixon. However, the next import year, would prove the first big Simmental year for breeders other than SBL. Finally, they were getting the picture—a picture soon enhanced when Dr. Allan Dixon’s first 7/8 heifer brought him $25,000.00.

news item from Cardston Alberta's local paper, Cardston Unlimited, Nov. 13, 1968

Walt Browarny ~ Photographer

Walt Browarny’s name is immediately recognizable by most in the cattle industry. In large measure, his full-time career shift was prompted by the importation of the exotics and the consequent A.I. agenda. People wanted to see what bull they were committing to and so the demand for his livestock photography escalated. (See his website at http://www.browarny.com/legacy/ . The new link appears to be at http://www.showchampions.com/PhotoStock and is under development as of October 2011.)

In Simmental Country magazine, August 1987:71 (“The Man With The Camera” by Ted Pritchett, pp. 67-74), we read:

The early Simmental breeders slowly came to appreciate the difference good photos could make to a bull.

[Browarny recalled] “I didn’t do the early photo work on Parisien as a young bull because one of the fellows at SBL [probably meaning Travers] had the philosophy he’d just shoot a pile of pictures himself and eventually come up with a good one. He’d bring all these pictures in to me and I’d spread them all over the floor and sort through them. Then I’d tell him—look, here’s the best one, and is that what the bull really looks like? He had to admit no and that’s when he realized the value of our services. They also had some bulls that were difficult to picture and that’s when they finally called me. SBL then became one of my best customers.

“The first picture I took of Parisien was out at Western Breeders when he was a three year old. …”

That negative is now in a bank vault along with the other famous bulls Walter has pictured over the years and only the working negatives are kept at the photo lab.

His best customers were the bull studs because everyone soon realized they needed pictures to sell semen.

[Browarny added] “ You can talk all you want about a bull, but people still want to see a picture and we were kept busy working seven days a week, often shooting 10-15 bulls a day."

One of his early videos of Parisien can be seen at: http://www.browarny.com/legacy/video/clip17.html [New link under development at http://www.showchampions.com/PhotoStock .]

In time, it is hoped that more of Browarny photos of those early SBL bulls will be available on his Walt Browarny Legacy site at: http://www.browarny.com/legacy/gallery.html [New link under development: see http://www.showchampions.com/PhotoStock .]

[Added October 31, 2011] We were sad to hear of Walt's passing August 24, 2011. His obituary can be found at http://www.mhfh.com/browarny-walter-walt-harry/  and http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/todays-paper/Walt+Browarny+Noted+livestock+photographer+start+Denver+show/5318953/story.html

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

 

Imports Selected ~ 1968

SBL’s third year of imports were selected by Travers and Hans Ulrich when they made a trip to Switzerland in June 1968. Their Swiss colleagues had laid the ground work before this buying trip so the way was well prepared for the selection of top-performing cattle.

The 1968 Simmental imports (in quarantine till Spring 1969) were:

Bulls:	Date of Calving
Lohner MM4780 (SBL 1Z; ASA 9; CSA 10)	4 Jan 1968
Galant MM1060 (SBL 2Z; ASA 10; CSA 11)	25 Jan 1968
Florian MM1745 (SBL 5Z; ASA 11; CSA 13)	2 Mar 1968

Heifers:	Date of Calving
Lerch (CSA 9)	n/a
Petula (SBL 4Z; CSA 12)	n/a
Sonja (CSA 14)	n/a
Tulipa (CSA 15)	n/a

Letter to B.Y. Williams ~ June 19, 1968

Below is the reporting letter that Travers sent to his colleague, B.Y. Williams, about the 1968 cattle buying trip to Switzerland.