This Sunday is the last day to enjoy the Madeleine festival at the Mayenne exhibition center with its many animals and its carnival. The event could not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-related constraints.
This year, the race of blondes from Aquitaine is in the spotlight with the national competition which took place on Saturday. The opportunity for cattle breeders from all over the country and even from abroad to meet and show their most beautiful animals to visitors. “Some people have traveled 800 kilometers to come here, says Michel Leroy, farmer at La Baroche Gondouin in North Mayenne. We meet, we know each other a little. It’s nice and then we see that there is a good dynamic because there are a lot of farms present, something we did not think at the beginning. There are a lot of animals, almost 500.”
Some breeders took advantage of the event to take a few days of vacation, like Ton Hartman, a Dutchman who has lived in the Gers for twenty years. He didn’t want to miss this edition of the Fête de la Madeleine. “We came to present our animals, to win a prize. That’s the goal, but also these four or five days are a little vacation for us. We meet, we discuss the quality of the animals, things like that. We have evenings together, there is music, atmosphere, it feels good.”
Another attraction: the cow’s head carved with a chainsaw
Visitors were therefore able to discover blondes from Aquitaine from all over France, but also a wooden cow’s head, carved with a chainsaw by Philippe El Roueily, arborist-climber in Ambrières-les-Vallées. The work should be finished this Sunday afternoon.
– Marcellin Robin