Mayenne: Matthieu Virfolet will cross the city with his 50 cows

The event is not likely to go unnoticed! Saturday June 27, fifty dairy cows will cross the city of Mayenne.

A transhumance urban initiated by Matthieu Virfolet. The breeder, installed at the Montaigu farm, on the road to Ambrières-les-Vallées for ten years, will indeed take his herd to graze in a field spared from drought, located near the road to Ernée.

A resilient model of agriculture

A journey of 4 kilometers which he decided to make on foot.

“I could have rented a cattle truck,” he concedes. But it would have been less fun! Besides, it didn’t make too much sense from an ecological and economic point of view. “

In fact, the professional, who has gone organic for two years, defends the most resilient farming model possible. “My cows are only fed on grass, explains the one who does not give any supplement to his animals. I consider that they find everything they need in nature. “

Less restrictive on a daily basis

And rather than mowing fresh grass every day at the other end of Mayenne, Matthieu Virfolet prefers to move his herd and build a mobile milking parlor to collect his milk there. “It will be less restrictive for me on a daily basis,” he says.

Comfort at work that he defends. “I also made the choice to milk only once a day. Certainly I produce a little less but I save time spent with my family. “

A very supervised transhumance

For this transhumance, Matthieu Virfolet had the green light from the town hall, the sub-prefecture and the approval of the local gendarmerie.

He called on forty farmer friends to supervise the herd throughout the journey. The latter will be on the greenway for the first half, then take the route d’Oisseau, rue de Londres, the Rapido roundabout and rue de Poirsac, barred between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

“The cows follow me by voice so I know they will behave well,” he says.

A first, which the inhabitants will be able to attend, “but from afar so as not to frighten the animals”, smiles Matthieu Virfolet.

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