Landes: in Pey, this young breeder has chosen old cattle breeds and short supply chains

Rémi Labescau, a young breeder who has been living in the town for six years, has chosen to raise a mixed herd of Bordeaux and Normandy cows, favouring short supply chains and rigorous management.

Seasoned farmers, young people aspiring to set up or diversify, there were about fifteen of them, who came to the Libat farm, in Pey, at the invitation of the Association for the Development of Agricultural and Rural Employment (Adear), represented by Anne Leloup. The Conservatory of Aquitaine Breeds and its three representatives, who follow the evolution and especially the revival of about twenty different old breeds, were also present, this Tuesday, May 13, at Rémi Labescau's, a young breeder who has been established for six years on the family farm that his parents passed on to him.

The participants' interest in the reconstitution of the Bordeaux cow herd in Aquitaine – growing from a few dozen in the 1970s to almost 600 today – was palpable. The same goes for the Landes sheep, still influenced by ancient crossbreeding and whose purpose is more uncertain: meat? milk? eco-grazing?

It's difficult to distinguish "greenwashing" from the need to maintain rural areas. The main thing, for the Conservatory, is to return the animal to its natural environment.

Everyone present was waiting for the testimony of Rémi, barely thirty years old, who places his vocation in the family context, with its ups and downs, but driven by strong convictions about the environment and the maintenance of the living rural fabric, with in the foreground, a real network of numerous farms on a human scale. Rémi, with his training as an agricultural engineer, therefore made a choice, that of leading a mixed herd of Bordeaux cows, very recognizable by their white and black coat, black head, tail and legs with wide white and black bands or white coat speckled with black, "pique" with a somewhat lively character, as well as more placid Normandy cows.

Above all, he decided to free himself from the low-paying "long supply chains" in favor of "short supply chains" that also give him more time. And, guided by strict administrative and accounting management, he opted for constant responsiveness to economic challenges.