At GAEC Lahitau, in Andoins, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, performance isn't a marginal issue: it's a major one. On a 108-hectare UAA (including 34 ha of silage maize, 36 ha of grain maize, 15 ha of temporary meadows and the rest of permanent meadows), the team also cultivates 32 hectares of catch crops at based on clover, ryegrass and vetch, to be hayed. A well-oiled system, designed to feed a productive herd in a cubicle-lattice building, with zero grazing.

As soon as François and Jean-Claude set up the GAEC, one guiding principle became clear: "make economical milk from cows that age well".

Bleu d'Auvergne, Bleu des Causses, Fourme d'Ambert: these three blue-veined PDOs, with their reputation for gourmet pleasure and character, have now joined forces to form an employers' association. Pooling resources and skills, complementing strategies: the structure is designed to enable each of the PDOs to showcase its potential, its territory and its breeders.