How did you start out in this profession ?

At 14, after primary school, I learned how to work with meat with an excellent butcher working in Etang-sur-Arroux (71). I started by the slaughter process before learning how to bone, prepare the meat, etc. After doing my military service in Germany (cavalry regiment), I went up to Paris to become a meat wholesaler but I didn’t have the financial means. A chance meeting with a professional got me started at Les Halles de Paris. At first I sold lamb, then beef, replacing a salesman who had retired. In the meantime, I learned the livestock trade, by going to La Villette.

How did your career develop ?

At 25 I rented some meadows in the Saône-et-Loire department to farm Charolais cattle, which is the regional breed. Cattle for fattening that are put in the meadows in spring and slaughtered at the end of the year.
I then bought a farm to breed and fatten and I sold my production through an agent I used to work for at Les Halles de Paris. In 1999, he stopped his activity and I became a salesman at GRG, a large meat company at Rungis. I supply them 600 head/year, which I also sell. But I also sell other stock, like Blonde d’Aquitaine, Limousin or the Blanc-Bleu from Belgium to our clientele of upmarket Parisian butchers. As a breeder-fattener I enter a lot of competitions and I’ve won some important prizes.

What cattle breed do you produce ?

I only do Charolais from lactating livestock. This tough, rustic breed adapts well and grows quickly. It is a very tender meat with a rather low fat cover and content. The meat is of superior quality and it has a good traditional image. For several decades now, consumers have been looking for leaner meat. Thanks to the right feed composed of field beans, alfalfa, linseed meal, cornmeal, we obtain a tasty, juicy meat with a lot of flavour that fully satisfies the demand from our clientele of traditional butchers. Charolais beef is a pride of the French meat trade, and I only produce local Label Rouge Charolais. I select the best head from standard beef herds with fine hides, narrow heads, maximum muscles and very few bones. As a general rule, the cattle that do not meet the standards are exported for fattening, to Italy for the males and to Spain for the females. The best quality animals go to traditional butchers and the others to mass distribution.

The breed’s future depends on getting a better yield from the carcass. To do so, we have to step up meat production by means of cattle and breeders selected for their ability to generate finer bones and hide. The finer the animal’s hide and the finer the bones, the finer the animal’s muscle cells. However, this demands a lot of experience. Concerning Charolais production, further efforts need to be made. We are lagging behind other breeds because we thought that there was no need to change with such a sound breed. On the contrary, I think we need to speed up production of cattle that are even better in terms of muscles.

What is your opinion of the meat market ?

While consumers tended to prefer mass distribution to traditional retail stores, in the last few years they seem to be coming back, because they can find better quality meat, accurate information on the meat’s origin, practical advice on cooking it or even recipes. We are seeing a return to the kitchen by French women, which is quite positive for the meat market, still hit by lower production due to the high cost of essential raw materials. At the same time, we notice a decrease in French livestock, directly caused by the drop in the number of farmers, particularly young farmers, who are increasingly turning to cereal crops, which are less complicated and steadier.

What do you think of Rungis Market ?

I know Rungis Market very well from the start and because I work there now. It is a very efficient, interesting market for retail butchers because the prices are generally lower than elsewhere for a better quality and a wider choice. Rungis has the best products at the best prices. Furthermore, the working conditions are perfect with the cold chain, computerization, traceability and the food health and safety rules.