Day 14: Birthplace of the Maine Anjou

Today was a pretty awesome day, considering the fact that I got to wake up late and didn't have to be at ESA until 1:00! We had a company tour today of a Maine Anjou cow farm near Angers. We arrived at the Domaine des Rues cow farm which was set in the French countryside amongst various tattered and old farm buildings. As we filed off the bus, some of us made our way to one side of a building, next to what looked like the farm owner's house, and found a wall full of what seemed to be the equivalent of our show banners, but they were actual plates with the year, class, and show name on them, dating back to 1928! The company had quite an impressive collection, I think I counted about 50 or so trophy plates. The educational began in the barn milking parlor, which was said to be about three hundred years old. We received a pretty decent presentation from a man working for the AOC certification administration, who explained the details of pure, local, quality Maine Anjou. Naturally, we just so happened to be in the exact area that the Maine Anjou was cradled! After this, the farmer gave us a tour around his facilities and showed us his mane cattle that he raised, Rouge des Prés. The cattle were naturally long with red and white coloring. Throughout the tour, we asked questions comparative to American agriculture. Basically, what we got from the tour was that Europeans don't use the advanced technology found in american agriculture. Technology like detailed record keeping, Expected Progeny Differences, computer systems, accounting systems, etc. They're very content with their more primitive way of farming. It's interesting to me because it's not very efficient. As I was discussing the tour with a friend of mine the next day, she made a pretty valid point. That point was that we came here with open minds, knowing european agriculture would be different from our own. However, most Europeans don't reciprocate that same open mindedness for american agriculture.