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20 hectres more




After many, many months we have finally had the go ahead that we can rent 20 hectares of pasture land. This has taken many meetings with the owners of the land, the farmer who was renting it and now retiring although the farmers never really retire they just reduce their herd size, which i think they are allowed 6 cows, gain their pension and continue to be active as this is what keeps them going only through illness where they are forced to stop they then find life difficult missing what they have done for many years.  The farmer we will be taking the land over from is one of them, still keeping half of the land he has been and will continue to be helpful by letting farmer J use machinery and equipment and giving advice, something the French are very good at here.

Farmer J has put in many hours wading through paperwork, form filling, identifying parcels of land and who actually owns them (which all are in Farmer Pierre's head) and need to be put under our name. Meeting with the owners, sorting contracts and having our organic organisation technician come to check out the land. As it will be under conversion we can only use a percentage of the hay that will be cut this year to feed our troop. Hopefully the rest will be sold,this also goes for how much grass the cows can eat there.Rental contracts have been signed and this years rent paid. Hay anyone?

We still have to have a meeting with the chambre d' agriculture to complete more forms declaring the land and as this year paperwork has changed for farming aid its best to make sure (for a fee) forms are filled in correctly,enabling us the get our funding.

Tomorrow one of the fields will have an electric fence erected for three of our steers and one cow to go on holiday Tuesday, think they cant wait.
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