Gaec Du Bois Joli
The Farm:
- Located in France, EU
- Currently milking 60-65 cows
- Cows are a French breed “Montbeliarde”. This breed is found mostly in the mountain areas and is recognized for the transformability of their milk into cheese.
- The family produces and sells a unique, value added local cheese, called St. Nectaire, on the farm. This cheese is also sold in local markets and serves to promote agriculture and milk amongst both the local residents and tourists.
- Quota of 314,000 liters of milk per year
- Cows are kept strictly on pasture, with no crops raised on the farm.
Farm Location: France
Utilizing resources on the web we have found the following links relevant to the dairy industry in France:
Breed Info-English
Breed Info- French
French Agriculture
About GAECS and Quotas in France
French Agriculture
Farm Management:
- Owned by Patrice and Pascale Chassard
- Several family farms were joined together to create a single farm called a “Gaec”.
- There are 6 people working on the farm: the owners, 2 parents, 1 sister, and 1 employee.
- All members multitask, but have certain specialties. Patrice and her sister in law are primarily responsible for cheese production and commercial aspects. Pascale and his father focus on animal management and breeding. Pascale’s mother concentrates on milk transformation, while the employee works with breeding and milking.
- No written job descriptions
- Decisions are generally made in common, with input from the specialist in each area.
- Buildings are certified to allow public on the farm, as the products are sold directly from the farm. This also means that the farm must respect hygienic norms for cheese production. Buildings and manure handling strategies also follow environmental norms.
- Consultants are utilized only for accounting and legal issues.
Nutritient Management:
The manure is spread on the prairies according to a specific program set by the local Agricultural Chamber and environmental authorities.
Feeding/Cropping:
Cows receive hay, dry alfalfa and cereals (mostly barley, some wheat and dry corn).
They are not allowed to feed any silage when producing St. Nectaire cheese.
The cereals are given via Alpro computerized feeder during the winter, spring and autumn.
Cereal mixture is given in the mobile parlour during the summer.
Principal source of protein and energy is the grass from pasture
The farm is on permanent pasture, so no crops are grown on the farm.
Milking:
Milking herd is 60-65 cows.
Average age is 5-6 years old, with less than 3 lactations.
24% in first lactation, 19% in second lactation, 21% in third lactation, 20% in fourth lactation and 16%in fifth or greater lactation.
Average number of days in lactation is 300.
Calving interval is 368 days.
Milking is done 2 times a day.
The milking parlour is a Herringbone 2 x 6 with Alpro takeoffs, Harmony clusters, SR 70 litres, C200 cleaning unit and Alpro management system.
The mobile parlour for milking pastured cows is a Herringbone 2 x 4 without takeoff, with Harmony clusters and with pneumatic pulsators.
Average milk production is 5500 kg, 4.2% fat, 3.3% protein, 180,000 SCC. (Average production for this breed and type is 5500-6000kg)
Most of milk is transformed directly on the farm into cheese, with the exception of fresh milk for the family and for the calves.
40 tons of St-Nectaire cheese is produced per year.
Cheese is made with fresh, non-pasteurized milk.
St-Nectaire cheese is only produced in that area, and is protected by a special certificate of quality (AOC). To maintain this certificate, certain regulations must be followed (i.e. silage cannot be fed)
Young Stock and Replacements:
25-35 calves raised per year on a DeLaval calf feeder.
80-90 heifers raised on a permanent basis
Replacement rate is 30% on average
95% of animals bred by AI.
Heifers on summer pasture bred by a bull.
Age at first calving is 3 years, due to the fact that heifers are raised mostly on pasture and hay with no cereals or concentrates.
Housing:
Cows are on pasture almost 24 hours a day from approximately the beginning of April until the end of October.
From June through September, cows are summer-pastured “up the mountain” at an elevation of 1300m (elevation of the spring/autumn pasture is 850m). On the mountain, cows are milked with the mobile parlour.
The barn is loose housing with cubicles (stalls) bedded with straw.
Economics:
- Labor cost is 78,000 Euros for 6 people.
- Sales are approximately 312,000 Euros.
- Results before taxes are 23,000 Euros
Community:
Pascal is the President of the “Appelation d’origine controlee” for the St-Nectaire cheese (dairy promotion) and has been a municipal councilor for 8 years.
Patrice is also very involved in community activities.
Future:
They are currently investing 150,000 euros in the dairy processing facilities and public exhibition room + store so that visitors can see how the cheese is produced.
The farm’s own St-Nectaire cheese, as well as other local varieties will be sold in the new store.
Plan to start construction in September 2003 and end by January.
They currently receive 4000-5000 visitors per year and hope to increase that to 10000 in the future.
Misc:
The mountain farm is in a tourist area.
Cows are intensively pastured, so no crops are produced on the farm.
The farm uses a local breed of cows “Montbeliarde” to produce milk for high quality cheese, which is sold both from the farm and locally.
The farm is very involved in the promotion of agriculture and milk production amongst the local residents and tourists.
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