Farms
The Coopérative Laitière de la Sévre is a close-knit cooperative, made up of 120 goat and bovine farms. All of our milk is collected from within a 30km radius of our two sites: our butter dairy at Echiré and our cheese factory at Celles-sur-Belle, just on the edge of the Marais Poitevin.
Our region is mostly made up of Jurassic limestone earth, covered by red clay silts, which promotes the growth of certain crops such as alfalfa, contributing to food self-sufficiency for farmers and leading to a high-quality milk.
Our Quality Charter for milk production
- Our Quality Charter has been in place since 1997.
- The goat and cow milk coming into the cooperative is systematically monitored and traced.
- Our farms have maintained a traditional family model and possess on average 80 cows or 300 goats, for just over two farmers over a surface of 150 hectares.
- 100% of our producers have joined up to national charters dedicated to good practices in farming. For more information about these charters:
La charte élevage
Bien vivre du lait de chèvre
- Les animaux des exploitations sont nourris exclusivement sans OGM. Ils reçoivent une alimentation produite sur la ferme, à base de fourrages verts ou conservés.
- Le couchage des animaux se fait sur de la paille propre et renouvelée chaque jour dans des bâtiments respectant le confort et les normes du bien-être animal ou bien sur les prairies des fermes.
Our producers talk to you
Family Exploitation
«We working on our farm as a family since 1960 with today my father and mu brother and me. My brother was the last to settle in 2013, three years after me. We are currently in the process of medernizing our building to improve the comfort of the animals and our wellbeing at work. »
Pierre- Luc V., 27 years old (on the right in the picture), GAEC Préreau (79, Deux-Sèvres)
Animal feed
« All the fodder distributed to our animals is produced on the farm. »
Philippe and François C., GAEC La Figeasse (79, Deux-Sèvres)
Use of alfalfa
«Each year we cultivate 45 hectares of alfalfa which feed of hay to our cows and goats. It’s a legume that grows well in our region with calcareous soils, it a richer food than meadow hay. We promote the production of quality milk and in addition animals love it.»
Laurent B., GAEC La Fontaine (79, Deux-Sèvres)
Sustainable development : solar tracker
« We have had a solar tracker installed on our farm since early 2016. With a surface area of 80 m² and 11 meters high, this system is motorized to allow the panel to follow the sun in order to produce as much energy as possible. The electricity produced in this way is used diretly on the farm and since it’s installation we have been able to meet all of our electricity needs. »
David R., GAEC du Petit Queray (79, Deux-Sèvres)
Pasture
« In fine weather, our cows leave the barn to enjoy young, quality grass. »
Pierre-Luc V., GAEC Préreau (79, Deux-Sèvres)