Australia imported the first Fleckvieh semen in 1972 from bulls which a Scottish AI station imported from Germany. Here the popular Scottish Herod, out of the great Bethina (which I admired often) from the Ulm breeding area. [Scottish Milk Marketing Board]
An excerpt:
Australia and New Zealand (1972)
Both countries had a difficult start because import regulations prohibited the direct import of animals from Europe, but NZ could import Simmental born in the UK, and Australia those born in NZ. Semen imports were restricted to UK/Ireland AI bulls. Many British breeders sold their import permits to New Zealand and Australian breeders even before the animals landed in Britain. A popular agreement was that the first calf of the imported animal was exported to New Zealand and its calf to Australia.
The first purebred Simmental in Australia was a bull calf imported in 1973 from New Zealand. In the first five years, the UK imported 1,800 Simmental and exported 1,470 to New Zealand.
Read the full article here