Agricultural Show: with “Oreillette” this year, why it is always a cow which is on the bill of the event ?

Oreillette, la vache égérie du Salon de l'agriculture. Salon de l'agriculture

Le Salon de l'agriculture va se dérouler à partir de ce samedi 24 février et ce jusqu'au 3 mars 2024 à Paris. Et encore une fois, une vache fait office d'égérie…

A headliner animal, but not just any animal. At each edition of the Agricultural Show – which this year takes place from February 24 to March 3 at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris – a cow proudly sits on all the documents relating to agriculture. ;event.

And yet, other animals could represent agriculture: sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens… But each time, it's is a cow. 

A flagship animal

this choice which has become a tradition by force of circumstances comes from the visitors themselves. During surveys carried out at the Show, visitors were unanimous: it is the animal that broadly represents the farm. It's "a real symbol" as explained Valérie Le Roy, director of the SIA, who allows "to promote a race, but also the women and men whose activity is linked to it, the products it manufactures and the territory in which it lives", as reported by Europe 1. Hence the choice of this animal as muse.

Ear,  a Normandy cow

For this edition, it's auricle, a Normandy cow decorated at the 2023 National Normand competition which was chosen.

“5 years old and mother of 3 calves, she comes from Briouze  in Normandy. On average, Oreillette's milk production represents 10.5 Camemberts per day of life, as explained in its presentation sheet.

Like its predecessors, it is first the breed of the animal that is chosen by a jury. One year it's a dairy breed, the next it's a meat breed. Once this has been designated, it is the president of the breed who will then choose the specimen which will represent it.