The Baalands: French sheep

October 2012 -- My trip to the International Goat Conference (in the Canary Islands) included a study tour of the French sheep industry, especially dairy sheep. After the conference was over, we (David and I) flew back to Madrid (lost a day of travel due to plane issues), rented a car, and drove across Spain to southern France. Our final destination was Toulouse. We met with researchers at INRA who gave us a tour of the sheep industry in the region. Our tour included a farm, AI stud, research center, and the caves where Roquefort cheese is made.

Roquefort-sur-Soulzon is the small town known for the production of Roquefort cheese from Lacaune sheep. To be legally called Roquefort cheese, there are federal regulations which must be followed. Our French hosts recalled when President George Bush put a 300 percent tariff on Roquefort cheese in retaliation for the EU banning imports of US beef due to hormones.

Sheep sculptures

Little lamb sculpture

Cheese mural

There are several makers of Roquefort cheese. The largest-volume brand by far is Roquefort Société made by the Société des Caves de Roquefort. We took a guided tour of their caves. The cheese wasn't real. It was plastic. It was an interesting tour.

Largest producer of Roquefort cheese

According to legend, Roquefort cheese was discovered when a shepherd boy saw a pretty girl and abandoned his meal in a cave. When he returned a few months later, he learned that mold had turned his plain cheese into Roquefort. Roquefort is a white, tangy cheese with veins of blue mold. While the legend may not be true, the cheese has been around for more than 1000 years. It's one of my favorite cheeses.

Plastic wheels of Roquefort cheese

Artificial insemination (AI) is common in sheep in France. It is done mostly with fresh, chilled semen. We visited an AI stud. There were rams of different breeds, including Suffolk, Rouge de l'Ouest , and Lacaune. The Lacaune breed included three strains: a dairy one, a prolific one, and a heavy muscled one. Wow, everything in one breed. We were introduced to Rouge de l'Ouest (Red of theWest), quite an interesting looking breed -- pink heads! One of the heavy muscled ones.

Lacaune rams

Rouge de l'Ouest rams

"Red of the West"

Suffolk ram

We visited an experimental farm in the area: Domaine de la Fage. There were both commercial (meat) and dairy sheep (Lacaune) on the farm. The dairy sheep spent most of the time in confinement, only grazing for about an hour a day. The commercial (meat) sheep were free range.