RELATION. Aude: The Montagut farm, or the goat paradise in Thézan-des-Corbières

“From goat breeding to cheese making, this is what we do at the Montagut farm”: Guillaume Portal, farmer for 16 years and associated with his wife since 2013 in GAEC (Groupement agricole d’exploitation en commun), reveals his morning in between. Work begins with a 6:00 am alarm clock.

First step: milking

No fewer than 80 goats have to be looked after every day. While milking may seem easy, the process is much more complex. Once a month and a half, each of them is subject to registration of milk. A way to examine the quality of the milk, its richness or if there is any health problem. A tool used to distinguish the best goats.

Guillaume Portal attaches particular importance to this, “especially when we sell the product later. We want to make sure it is of quality”. Of the 80 goats, 70 are milked, morning and evening. The youngest are the first to start, apart from the adults in the goat herd, they give an average of about 700 liters of milk. Guillaume takes care of it personally every morning and evening from February to August. It’s about an hour of work for this step. After taking turns milking, it’s time to relax.

Second stage: lunch, walk and pasture

Guillaume Portal continues his morning: “Immediately after milking I feed them with pellets, barley.” A ritual that continues with the exit to the scrubland and the fields to spend the day there. “This year it hasn’t been easy to feed the animals, there hasn’t been much rain, so little greenery. Luckily the two spring storms fell. This saved my season”, confides Guillaume. A drought problem that affects everyone. Despite everything, the herd is found in a place not far from the agritourism: “I walk about 20 minutes with the goats to leave them in the enclosure. After that I bring water, because if they are thirsty they won’t eat anymore”, continues the farmer.

His goats devour no less than one field a day, “about 50 meters by 50. In early April, it was the first time I’ve seen alfalfa dehydrate in this period. It was complicated but we’re doing it”, concludes the latter.

Last step: the cheese

“I take the time to raise my goats right from the start,” Guillaume explains. A work that can be felt in his products. “If I was just making milk, I’d need at least 200 goats. That’s part of the reason I got hooked on cheese.” A winning bet for farmers who have many points of sale, or even collaborations in the area. “We work with the locals, that’s important to us,” reveals Guillaume. On the menu: ricotta, seasoned cheeses, tome, yoghurt, there’s something for all tastes.

On the Montagut farm, 160 cheeses are produced every day. About fifty cheese strainers, but also about 500 yogurts a week, and others. “The Farm side producer”, in Narbonne, welcomes the products of the Montagut farm: “The sale in this shop represents 30 to 40% of our turnover”. At Guillaume Portal, there are two ways of making cheese: lactic production or raw pressed cheese. A job that can go from 4 days to 2 months before being able to taste the products. In the company we give 100% to our work. Even if “starting the business isn’t easy. I won’t lie, it’s very difficult physically. Without passion, you can’t resist. But for me, or at least 90% of the time, I enjoy doing all of this. It has also become my ritual”.

Guillaume Portal: “I want to go further”

If today Guillaume Portal and his wife are stabilizing, the Montagut farm has not finished its expansion. Naturally, milking, grazing and cheesemaking will always be at the heart of the operation. But, for the years to come, the family hopes to do more: “We have managed to overcome this ‘cap’ of the beginnings, we have things in order. Now I want to go further, to offer new things”, confides Guillaume. In the projects emerges the idea of ​​bringing people, vacationers, directly to the company.
“We would like to create a camping spirit. Not something huge, but to give interested people the opportunity to come and somehow ‘stay’ directly on the farm,” explains Guillaume. An idea that is already starting to take shape: “We have land that we have already started to develop a bit to welcome people. We allow campers from time to time, so that would be the way to do more.” A project that Guillaume Portal intends to complete. The advantages will be numerous: “We know that it will be advantageous for us. We will have time on the farm, therefore inevitably more customers. We have our own shop directly on site which brings us about 10% of our turnover. With this project we hope to do a little more. It would be a way of offering a quiet place to those interested, simply making them discover life on the farm. But also allowing us to get to know each other a little more”, hopes Guillaume. For the moment, this public access is not yet available.