How did the business develop ?

The farm dates back to the 19th century and my ancestors had a dairy farm and raised poultry. My father Jean-François and my mother Marie-Thérèse took it over in 1970 and they created a goat’s cheese production in 1975 and started breeding Bresse poultry in 1980. I joined the family farm in 2002 to take charge of production, while my parents managed the processing and marketing part with my sister Lucie. We also work with a local workforce of about ten employees. The farm is run under reasoned agriculture and we have about forty hectares with about fifteen for cereals (wheat, maize) to feed the livestock. The wheat includes old varieties of exceptional nutritious quality well-adapted to our poultry. The rest is made up of grazing land to feed our goat herd, which includes about a hundred goats of the Alpine chamois breed.   

How do you work ?

We are both Bresse poultry farmers and slaughterers, given that only 15% of farmers are also slaughterers. Our abattoir meets all the European standards. Every fifteen days we take delivery of 500 one-day old Bresse chicks from one licensed incubation centre in Bechanne (01). After 35 in heated quarters and fed on minerals and proteins,  they go to grass runs where they feed on “natural” products (worms and others) and a feed based on maize, wheat and dairy products (whey from the goats). These are slow-growing chickens with a firm meat. After 18 weeks rearing, we put them in coops where they rest and fatten to soften the flesh and skin texture, although the feed remains the same. For the fattened hens (1 700 units/year), the breeding period is 20 weeks and 32 weeks for capons (400 units/year). All our poultry is slaughtered on site. Bresse poultry (only AOC since 1957) is now AOP certified. We also sell Bresse turkey bred by other producers but we select and slaughter them on our farm. We are proud to be able to full control our production without any government subsidies. A Bresse chicken is a top quality chicken bred by traditional methods and according to very strict specifications. Bresse poulty is the hallmark of excellence and tradition.

For the last six years we have taken part in the “Les Glorieuses de Bresse” competition in Louhans, a showcase for the best Bresse poultry where we have won some prizes, without forgetting the silver medal we won at the 2011 Concours Général Agricole in Paris.
Besides Bresse poultry, we also produce goat’s cheeses made from our goat herd, which represents 80 000 litres of milk a year. We process all the milk in our CEE-approved dairy. We have different goat’s cheese formats like the “crottine”, a small “appetizer” goat cheese, the “bouton de culotte”, “Tour de la Guyotte” (250 g), “cabrillon”, “frai-chèvre” (extra fresh in a pot and not matured). A portion of our goat’s cheeses are also sold at Rungis.

What do you think of Rungis Market?

Rungis Market is a real partner for us and we have worked with the market in perfect synergy and total trust for over ten years. The Rungis professionals know our products perfectly and their demand is steady and regular both in terms of quality and quantity. They defend small producers by promoting the products well and that satisfies us totally.