HAS Saint-Aubin-des-Coudrais (Sarthe), Christophe Caillard d’Aillières has a hundred cows. Limousines, Charolaises, Normans, Prim’Holsteins… Slaughtered then chopped up, its “girls”, as he calls them, are then sold via the Internet in the form of roasts, pieces of bourguignon, bavettes or entrecôtes. Some also end up in Bolognese sauce, of a special type: made by a local charcuterie, the preparation is “solidarity”. The principle is the one that prevails in food banks: the donor buys one or more jars, which are then offered to associations, which in turn distribute them to families in precarious situations. The producer pays 10% of his margin to the associations in question, or to others, a way of making the system totally virtuous.
Launched at the end of 2021, the social bolognese of Christophe Caillard d’Aillières, 38, is enjoying some success in the surrounding area. The scouts of Mamers, the parish of La Ferté-Bernard and the association A meal for all of Le Mans have organized charity campaigns by offering this “pure beef” sauce (composed of 40% meat), whose taste quality is mainly based on the pastures of the Perche hills.
A social fiber since 1789
The cows of the Sarthois breeder only eat grass. Neither grain nor maize silage fill troughs, which, incidentally, do not exist on the farm. Installed on 50 hectares of meadow, a system of removable fences offers ruminants a daily “fresh plate” of clover and grasses – a feast on which they can feast day and night, the animals sleeping outside throughout the year.
“Even if it means producing good meat, why not allow the poorest to benefit from it? », entrusts the operator to the extended name. In this part of Sarthe, everyone knows the Caillard d’Aillières, a surviving family of French nobility who provided the nation with regiments of elected officials, polytechnicians, Saint-Cyrians, doctors, lawyers and others. auditors to the Council of State. Son of Hervé (who was himself a farmer and mayor of Aillières-Beauvoir, the family stronghold) and grand-nephew of Michel (who was a deputy, senator and president of the General Council of Sarthe), Christophe likes to evoke the figure of his ancestor Germain Caillard d’Aillières. At the Estates General of 1789, he proposed to curb poverty in the countryside by creating a “kind of RMI” taken from the parish tithes, recalls his descendant. “I remain very attached to the values of our family, which has always put itself at the service of others and of society”proclaims the aristo-peasant.
You have 34.8% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.