–
After a year of interruption due to confinement, the Valenciennes agricultural fair made its comeback on May 13. Always in the same place: at the cattle market on Avenue Macarez. If this return was made without an audience, the agricultural show still organized its 67th cattle competition there.
So, of course, there were fewer animals than in 2019, but the top of the basket was still there. Among the professionals present on site, we could notably find Sylvain Pottier from the butcher’s shop in Hainaut (located at Place du Hainaut in Valenciennes). And if he had made the trip, it was because he had an objective: that of winning the special price of the artisanal butcher’s shop.
This prize can be won once the competition is over. That is to say once the prize list is known in its entirety, and the great champion and the great champion of the day – as well as their breeder – have been awarded the supreme title (out of 156 animals). In this case, this year, it is a cow of blue white breed (from Vittrant breeding) which won the award for excellence females. This is when a professional like Sylvain Pottier enters the game. Because at the end of the competition, all the potential buyers present negotiate the purchase of the winning animals. The battle is tough. Everything takes place in secret, away from prying ears. And of course, it’s the one who makes the best offer. But also to those who know how to put forward the right arguments with the seller breeder.
In this game, Sylvain Pottier was particularly brilliant since he managed to buy the great champion of the day. A baby bau of 615 kilos in weight of meat. “I went there to buy the best one. I wanted the best animal to stay in Valenciennes. Something that has not happened for a few years. Obviously, it’s rewarding because it may only happen once in my life. And if we did, it’s because I really wanted the beast to stay in Valenciennes, but also to offer customers the meat of an award-winning beast.“, Rejoices Sylvain Pottier. Precisely, the meat is available since Thursday at the butcher’s shop in Hainaut. It will also be used in the products offered in the distributor of the butcher’s shop located in Bermerain, a town where Sylvain Pottier and his wife Mélanie have their laboratory. “The meat will be offered throughout the weekend, on the occasion of Mother’s Day“.
In the Pottier family, we have been butchers for six generations. And for Sylvain, this new prize rewards a prosperous year since last February, he received the “Gold craftsman” certification. Both for his butcher’s shop, but also for his work in the charcuterie.
–
