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Gwendal is stunned by what Louane is saying, but, intrigued, he lets her continue.
Louane: “The farm produces milk and cereals, so we have the basic feed for our future livestock, we will supplement it with the poultry we already raise. We have milking equipment, refrigerated tanks for milk, investments will be very limited.
We will just have to invest in a vehicle with a temperature-controlled box for milk deliveries, but this is easily found second-hand.”
Gwendal lets her partner's argument unfold but a question burns on her lips.
Gwendal: “I’m starting to understand the idea, but how do I find volunteers and how much money can I pay them? ?
Louane: “Who's talking to you about Gwendal volunteers, we just have to help ourselves to all these invasive species which are proliferating on our beautiful coasts of Brittany”.
Gwendal now understands perfectly where Louane is coming from.
It is certainly risky but it can also be very lucrative and he also knows very well that Louane absolutely does not want to live miserably on the farm all his life, neither does he.
He is already thinking about the objections and obstacles that may arise before them.
Louane observes her and she knows that she has hit the mark and that Gwendal is already planning for this future activity. She tells him her plan, carefully elaborated.
On the Basque coast, the local population has been facing the same problems as those discovered by the Bretons for a long time.
A magnificent coast, an ideal climate, a majestic hinterland and more tourists arriving every year, not to mention all the city dwellers buying up all the real estate available by the sea but also now inland.
Bixente, a real estate agent in Biarritz, has a front-row seat to see it.
Many Parisians in his clientele buy apartments or houses and then put them into seasonal rentals, much more profitable than having year-round tenants.
He himself, although you work, has the worst difficulties finding accommodation, despite a substantial budget.
Today, he has a meeting with a foreign client, a German who wants to buy a pied-à-terre in the best area of Biarritz with a view of the sea.
Bixente speaks perfect English, an element that has become essential in his profession with an increasingly international clientele.
He knows their habits and tastes, the selection criteria such as air conditioning in the accommodation which is essential for these foreigners.
Some clients, even among the wealthiest, can be charming and deeply attached to the Basque region while others are just smug or even contemptuous, thinking that money buys everything.
Bixente only had one email exchange with this German client which was sent to him by a couple of German retirees with whom Bixente carried out a transaction on a large Basque villa a few weeks ago.
Here, it is a large apartment that Bixente selected according to the criteria provided by this client.
He picks her up this morning at her hotel and is surprised to discover a young woman between 25 and 27 years old at the most.
She is tall and is a bit like the cliché you might have of a German when you are French.
She is tastefully dressed and wears designer sunglasses.
The young thirty-year-old still remains taken aback that such young clients, in this case a client, can afford second homes costing more than a million euros while not yet being thirty years old.
He says nothing about it, remaining very professional, and accompanies his client to her possible future vacation address.
The visit is very quick, the client just takes a look in each room of this vast, very modern apartment with a magnificent sea view terrace.
There will be no other visit, the young German gives her agreement to Bixente, without even discussing the price.
She hands him a card with the contact details of his lawyer so that the young agent can manage the administration.
Bixente takes the card and invites the young German to join his car to take her back to her hotel.
A few minutes later, he drops her off in front of her hotel, she leaves the car without a word.
Bixente is now used to this type of behavior, but that doesn’t mean he appreciates it.
He goes to park his car in the nearby parking lot and comes back to the hotel.
When he enters the hall he sees Julien, one of the concierges of this luxury hotel, it’s him he was looking for.
Bixente: “Hello Julien, do you know the German client that I just took home five minutes ago? We will probably do business for an apartment but I don’t have much reference on her.”
Julien: “You are not very social media, Ingrid Bernstein is a German influencer specializing in fashion. This is his third stay in our establishment.”
Bixente: “And what does she do when she’s at your house? ?
Julien: “Mainly on the beach, always with his eyes glued to his cell phone. She rarely goes out and takes her meals in the hotel restaurants. Why all these questions, do you intend to recruit her for your friend's breeding? ?
Bixente: “You don’t think you say that well, I think she has the right profile if not this notoriety on social networks. Keep me a deck chair close to hers on your beach so I can see her in a swimsuit up close and check that she has the necessary attributes.”
The next morning, Bixente is already installed on a comfortable deckchair on the hotel's private beach when his client from yesterday walks by without recognizing him.
She sits down three deck chairs further to her right.
She takes off her dress and finds herself in a two-piece swimsuit.
Bixente, behind his sunglasses and the magazine he is leafing through, can only admire the young German's appearance.
She is certainly a very beautiful woman.
She lies down on her deck chair and starts checking her cell phone.
Bixente has the information he wanted, he leaves his own deckchair and goes to the locker room to change.
He needs to organize the care of the young German and Julien will help him with this.
A concierge of his level has unsuspected resources to satisfy the slightest desire of his clients.
Here, he will mainly help Bixente to kidnap the young German girl and transport her to Gwendal and Louane's farm in Brittany.
Malo is inspecting forest plot number eight.
His family has been farming this maritime pine forest for several generations and this plot is reaching maturity for cutting this fall.
Competition from the large forest areas of the Landes is keen, but Malo has found a new outlet for its wood.
He created a small unit for manufacturing cellulose paste from his pine trees, very soft and absorbent materials used in the composition of ecological and biodegradable diapers.
It is a small factory in the south of Brittany that produces them.
The baby market is rather bearish and the factory has lost the local maternity market which has closed but the production of adult models is booming.
These ecological diapers face competition from cheaper models made of synthetic materials and plastics, but some retirement homes have made this more ecological choice and sales are growing.
These diapers compost and then serve as fertilizer for crops.
Gwendal made quick calculations following Louane's proposal.
Certainly a liter of breast milk sells significantly better than cow's milk, but the turnover inevitably depends on the number of heads it will be able to accommodate on the farm.
The cellar, all in length, is vast but it will have to be arranged.
Then we will have to find a supply chain for these new breeds of cows, in short this will involve significant costs. Gwendal opens up to Louane.
Louane: "The milk will just be a source of supplementary, recurring income; our main revenue will come from selling the calves. Maternity wards are closing, yet paradoxically, the demand for children to adopt is skyrocketing.
Young calves of European breeds—whose mothers have been pampered and fed on a short supply chain of organic farm produce—believe me, that’s worth its weight in gold."
Gwendal’s face brightened; he realized Louane had truly thought her project through in minute detail. What she explained next would only reinforce that impression.
Louane: "Let’s be clear, Gwendal: you are and will remain a farmer and cattle breeder. You’ll simply be the only breeder in the area diversifying his herd with foreign breeds. We’ll keep your Breton Black-and-Whites and all the farm’s current activities.
We’re just going to redirect a portion of our milk, grain, and poultry production to feed our new animals. Since the farm is on a hillside, it’ll be easy to cut a discreet opening from the edge of the small wood leading to the cellar,
allowing our new cows to step out into the pasture—raised outdoors like the current herd, but in a separate field. The hedges surrounding our fields will provide a natural screen dense enough to keep them out of sight; that’s already the case,
but we’ll let them grow a bit taller and thicker in the future. I’ve used AI to create images of the outfits our cows will wear: a latex bodysuit matching their breed’s coat colors, with hooves fitted over their front legs. They’ll have hooves on their hind legs too,
but with internal studs that prevent them from standing upright, forcing them to walk on all fours—just like any other cow."
The suit features an integrated hood complete with horns and ears, and a bell around the neck—containing a GPS chip to track their location in the field should they try to escape.
When outdoors, they will wear a halter with a bit in their mouths to prevent incessant mooing.
They will wear diapers under their latex suits to avoid leaving cow pats all over the barn.
You’ll note, Gwendal, that I’m taking your comments into account; I know cleaning the barn is one of the chores you dislike most.
These biodegradable diapers will add to the farm’s manure volume.
Their suits will fasten with a back zipper—locked at the rump—and a shorter front zipper to expose their udders for milking.