I am based on a 300ha farm with good quality land in Nouhant, which is located in the New Aquitaine region in central France. It is of course a big farm but it is run by three people, myself, my husband Jean-Luc and another partner who began by working on the farm before joining our partnership some years ago. We operate a 170-strong pedigree Charolais herd as well as cereal crops. Compared to Ireland, there are a large amount of purebred beef herds in France.

Where the purebred herds in Ireland would be mainly for reproduction, the purebred herds in France are usually both for breeding and for beef. On this farm we breed between 10 and 20 of our best bull calves for reproduction each year. The 70 remaining bull calves are sold live for export.

Italy is one of the main markets for these cattle. Bulls are exported at 320kg-420kg and this year’s prices are about €2.70/kg. With the female calves, we keep what we need as replacements within our own herd and the rest are fattened on the farm for slaughter. 2018 has been a difficult year for French farming with disagreeable weather conditions and poor beef prices. All summer the sun has been shining and we have received very little rain as of yet.

As a result we will have some problems with feed stocks for the winter. Beef prices paid to farmers have been very poor, between €3.50-€3.70/kg for cows, €3.80-€4.00/kg for heifers and €2.57/kg for veal for export to Italy or Spain.

On the farm at the moment we are looking to plough the fields for planting winter cereals (if it would ever rain!) and soon calving will begin for 35 autumn calving heifers.

This year we had one bull at the Sommet de l’Elevage, the main agricultural show in France which takes place in Clermont-Ferrand each year.

The Sommet is a wonderful show for people interested in livestock and it seems to gather a lot of interest from international visitors in particular. Our bull at the show this year was named Nazariu. He is a 28-month old bull, born on 31 January last year. I’m delighted to say that he won first prize in the underage category and he came second in the overall Charolais super final.

This has been our second time winning at this show. It is great for us to get some recognition and our bulls are becoming more popular as a result. In terms of price, I’m looking for €4,000 for Nazariu and if he is not sold at the show, he will be sold at home on the farm.