At the wheel of his gray Citroën Berlingo, Daniel Bayrand stops at an intersection. Through the light morning mist, fields as far as the eye can see. No panel. The retired butcher (well, almost) doesn’t need it. He has been taking this bumpy little road in Saint-Martinien for several decades.
“I was already coming more than fifty years ago,” he says. At the time when he was, alone, at the head of the Saint-Jean butcher’s shop in Montluçon. Long before his son Hervé took over the business in 2007.
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Animals selected from farmers
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Daniel Bayrand has got into the habit of going directly to farms to choose the animals that will be on his stall. He still does today.
“Since 1969, I have been buying directly from farms, from my regulars. I have about ten. We choose our animals to have the best possible quality. »
daniel bayrand (butcher shop Saint-Jean)
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Beef, veal, and as Easter approaches, lamb.
A last bend, a last small road and Daniel Bayrand parks in front of an imposing sheepfold from which bleatings rise. Pierre Devaux, in bottle green overalls, comes to meet him. The butcher and the 26-year-old farmer shake hands.
Daniel Bayrand plans to buy a dozen lambs from Pierre Devaux. © SALESSE Florian
“Before him, I dealt with his uncle. And even before, to his grandfather”, specifies with a smile Daniel Bayrand who, once his boots are on, steps over a barrier to come into contact with the lambs. Without forgetting, before that, to take off your cap so as not to lose it.
The butcher plans to buy a dozen lambs from the breeder. “The others will go to mass distribution via a cooperative”, explains Pierre Devaux.
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A dozen lambs for Easter
Daniel Bayrand advances in the middle of Charolais lambs, Texel lambs and quickly identifies the “top of the basket” for him: crosses of the two breeds.
“Charolais has a dark red meat that is very strong in taste. The texel has a lighter meat. The crossing of the two allows to have a meat between the two, not too strong”, underlines the butcher who knows very well, after all these years, what his customers prefer.
Daniel Bayrand has been going directly to farmers for over fifty years. © SALESSE Florian
Several lambs have already been branded with yellow spray by Pierre Devaux. The breeder pre-selected them. “They are all between 38 and 42 kg”, notes the young farmer, small notebook referencing the weight of his animals in support. “It’s ideal for having between 20 and 22 kg in carcass”, adds Daniel Bayrand, a hand coming to feel the back of a lamb.
Animals slaughtered a few days before Easter
“He’s a bit tight that one. But in eight or ten days, it will be fine, ”he says, marking the animal with a fluorescent orange bomb. “Oh, that one is well stocked. It has a little fat, we say it’s just waxed, ”he notes the hand on another.
Daniel Bayrand will pick them up with his cattle truck a few days before Easter. To lead them himself to the slaughterhouse of Bourbon-l’Archambault.
Daniel Bayrand selects each animal. © SALESSE Florian
After the butcher’s selection, the two men step back a little. Time to talk about price (up on last year) and come to an agreement. €8.30 per kg. €190 maximum per lamb. For quality, local meat.
The butcher and the farmer shake hands. Daniel Bayrand steps over a final barrier and collects his cap. Before greeting Pierre Devaux and getting back behind the wheel of his Berlingo. Towards a new bumpy road.
Agriculture: Cédric, 21, has already taken over the family farm, in Verneix (Allier)
To supply the Saint-Jean butcher’s shop with meat, Daniel Bayrand buys animals directly from farmers all year round. “Some of my regulars contact me when they have one that might interest me,” explains the man who will choose the animals “directly from the fields”. “There, for example, I bought four animals from Christian Thuret [EARL Thuret à Nouhant, NDLR] some of which won awards at the Montluçon agricultural competition. In particular a super heifer honor prize, a super cularde honor prize and a heifer first prize.
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Text: Laura Morel
Photos: Florian Salesse
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