Participants in the 2026 edition of the Kepak Young Farmer Forum travelled to the Sommet de l'Élevage livestock show in France this week.

The 35th edition of the French agricultural show kicked off in Clermont-Ferrand in the Massif Central region of France on Tuesday, October 6.

The four-day international agricultural event and French livestock exhibition received approximately 120,000 visitors, and featured over 1,800 exhibitors, while 2,000 head of cattle, sheep and horses from approximately 70 different breeds were on display.

There were a number of other Irish attendees among the 6,000 international visitors from more than 100 different countries at the show this year.

The following five countries were invited as 'countries of honour' to exhibit at the event:

Mongolia;
Columbia;
Spain
Ivory Coast;
Sudan.

The theme for this year's event was focused on the international year of rangelands and pastoralism as designated by the Food and Agriculture Organization at the UN.

Cattle exhibition

This year saw the Limousin cattle breed take center stage at the event.

The breeds' French national championships saw 400 pedigree Limousin animals from 150 farms across France on display, with several of the Young Farmer Forum members commending the quality of the cattle.

Limousin is France’s second most-popular beef cattle breed,with a herd of over one million Limousin cows on more than 30,000 farms across France.

Approximately 1,400 of these farms are members of the breed’s Herdbook.

One of the many highlights from this year's event was the prestigious 'Cream of the crop' auction sale of breeding stock, which was organised by Interlim Genetic Service and took place in the Zenith d’Auvergne on Wednesday evening, October 7.

Sommet de l'Élevage managing director Benoit Delaloy said: "Holding the Limousin National Championships during the Sommet de l'Élevage boosts our international visitor numbers and attracts delegations that don’t usually come.

"It’s a very international breed that acts as a wonderful attraction for our event.”

Farm visits

On Thursday, October 8, the Young Farmer Forum delegates visited two Limousin farms.

The Kepak Young Farmer Forum delegates met the owners of these farms and had the opportunity to ask them questions, with Olivier Rambert from Interlim acting as translator on the day.

Rambert is well known in pedigree Limousin breeding circles in Ireland and has often judged Irish Limousin cattle shows.

He emphasised the importance of the maternal traits in the breed to the young farmer group.

He also highlighted the differences of the breed types and how the farms visited have a preference to go for easy-calving genetics with good post-calving muscling ability.

Stocking rates on the farms visited were much lower than would be typical in Ireland, with 85 cows on 160Ha on the first farm visited, and a stocking rate of 0.7 livestock units per hectare.

It was also noted that land prices were low, with anecdotal evidence from French farmers suggesting that relatively good land could be rented for €60/ac or €150/Ha.

It was further notable that neither of the farms visited had slatted sheds for cattle, and all cattle were housed on straw-bedded sheds for the winter.

Many of the weanlings produced on the farms were being sold for exporting to Italy where they are further fattened, with the best of the bull and heifer calves being retained for breeding.

The farm visits highlighted the similarities and differences between suckler farming in Ireland and France.

Most of the Irish delegates noticed the emphasis which the French farmers visited placed on work-life balance, as well as on producing balanced, easy-managed suckler cows.

The young farmer forum is led by Kepak in partnership with Musgrave and supported by Mountbellew Agricultural College and Bord Bia.