Estelle Bigot is a dairy cow breeder in Mayenne. She manages her herd in a thrifty grassland system, which allows her to achieve a certain economic performance, with a decent income. She delivers her quantified results in a video published by Civam.
Click on the picture to start the video.
“In my system, I have a lot of prairies that I try to graze as much as possible. Estelle Bigot has been on the family farm since 2013. She raises 40 Normans in grassland system.
“The grassland system allows me to reduce my food loads, mechanization, veterinary and cultivation costs. I take around 1,900 €/month”, testifies the breeder.
On the 2019 references, the Civam Pays de la Loire analyzed the economic results of the farm by comparing them to the average of the group (17 farms in the region specializing in milk with less than 20% of maize surfaces in the SFP, in conventional), and to the regional average from Rica (network of agricultural accounting information):
“The strong point is that I have 50 ha accessible around the buildings. The cows graze 9 to 10 months of the year on meadows of perennial ryegrass, white clover and meadow fescue. In the hay meadows, I also include alfalfa and red clover. My plots being well provided with legumes and having enough organic matter, I do not bring mineral fertilizers. On the phytos side, I only use a herbicide in the first pass on the corn, then I use the Cuma hoe on the second pass. » Below are the details of the charges :
| Estelle | AD is not bio (Civam network farms in the same system as Estelle) |
Rica | |
| food cost (€/1000 l produced) |
93 € | 86 € | 152 € |
| Mechanization costs (€ / ha SAU) |
405 € | 472 € | 727 € |
| Veterinary fees (€ / UGB) |
41 € | 33 € | 49 € |
| Crop costs (€/ha cultures) |
502 € | 391 € | 576 € |
“My system allows me to free up a lot more time than before. For me, but also for operations, because I do AI and performance control. Next step for Estelle: the switch to organic, “which will be the culmination of the system”.
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