French Limousin national set for Sommet de l’Élevage

Amélie Bourbouloux, 26, belongs to the fourth generation of Limousin breeders on her family’s farm in Saint-Ybard in central France. With her father Guy and brother Thomas, they run 200 suckler cows and will compete at the Sommet de l’Elevage show in Clermont-Ferrand next month. The farm sells approximately 30 pedigree bulls and some in-calf heifers each year, keeping most heifer calves as replacements.

Guy started attending the show 21 years ago and Amélie has been going since she was a child. “We’re going with 11 animals in all categories, from maiden heifers to bulls and first calver with calf at foot,” she told the Irish Farmers Journal. The show is one of the most important on the French pedigree circuit. “It’s in the centre of the country, in an important livestock farming region and it attracts many farmers,” said Amélie. Some visitors come from outside the country, adding to a “good customer base for us,” she said.

This year is a special one for the Bourboulox family because the National Limousin Championship is taking place at Sommet de l’Élevage, allowing them to choose the animals they bring. Amélie said her great-grandfather chose the breed initially and it has been inevitable for her family that they should stick with Limousins ever since.

“These cows are easy calvers, can feed their calf and deliver good carcase weight,” she said.

She won’t make any predictions as to which of her entries is most likely to win. “Judging is too different from one judge to the next,” she said. But one thing she knows for sure after years attending the show is that “there are more and more women in this industry – and that’s great”.