A few weeks ago, before the lockdown, Jérôme Rey had opened the doors of his farm to us. The loosehead prop of the FCG also works as a breeder in Saint-Vital, in Savoie.
How big is your farm?
"We have about 75 head. Cattle. Everything cow, heifer and calf. We have 250 laying hens, which are behind the farm. We have 60, 65 acres of UAA, 10 acres of grain for feed. And, everything else, for pasture and hay in the summer. "
How did you come to be a breeder?
"I really wanted to work, from the beginning, on my own, to sweat for myself. When I turned 18, I took the lead. I graduated from high school in June. A few months later, in November, I was settled. I rented a building a little further away. For starters... Because the investment was huge. And then I created from scratch. Here, it was meadow. My father gave me the land. And I started everything from scratch when I was still in Bourgoin. "
So you started breeding before you added rugby?
"Let's just say I walked a bit backwards. They'll say I'm crazy for doing all this. Except that, as I told you, I was on my side very quickly. I didn't waste any time. When I graduated high school, I settled in. And, six months later, Bourgoin made me sign my first pro contract. Once the wheels are in motion, it's gonna be hard to let go. Your loans are here. Your animals are here. Mentally, it's hard to stop. It's been six years now. And it's true that I'm evolving more and more (in rugby), it's starting to get complicated. So there's a solution to be found quickly. "
How do you manage your two jobs on a daily basis?
"It used to be different. Coming from Chambéry, one division down. The road, a little less long. I could heal in the morning, I trained. I would come back in the afternoon and I would do all the caring, all that. When I arrived in Grenoble, I tried for the first week. From the outset, I saw that it was impossible. Now, on a typical day, before leaving for training, I come to the farm to see if there isn't a cow that is sick, to see if she is in the process of giving birth, if there isn't a stuck animal. Something like that. I'm off to practice. My father, who's at the factory at the moment, working part-time from 4 to 8:30, is doing his first job. And then, for his second, he's coming to help me on the farm. He's the one who's going to give the food. As for me, I've already been training for a while in Grenoble. Once I've finished the day, I come back here and I'm going to do all the tasks: mulching, putting them on a bed of straw, all the meat marketing, for direct sales, managing my customers, and dealing with any problems that may have arisen during the day. "
And on long away games, how do you handle it?
"Let's just say that all long trips, I do them. It's complicated. Afterwards, how does it work? I anticipate my departure. All the food, for two days, is made available in front of the animals. And there's just my father pushing back the ration. And then there are regular phone calls. "
Does earning your living as a rugby player allow you to be more flexible in your management of the operation?
"I'm someone who's really based on economics. Of course, I earn a salary through rugby, I live through rugby. But everything that is earned on the farm will be reinvested in the farm. Let's say I make the farm grow until I stop playing rugby. If I then come to work full time on the farm, then we can leave, so that there are only the boots to put on and go to work. "
How do your colleagues at the FCG react to this double job?
"In the group, I can say thank you to my colleagues. I got respect quite easily. You could put it like that. I have questions, of course. How I do it. What's on the farm. What I do. It's nice to talk to colleagues on the other side who don't know. Hopefully we can have a cohesive day on the farm during the summer. "
Don't you get any special treatment from the coaches?
"No, not at all. Afterwards, I knew it. The higher I go up, the better I have to be on the field. If you're good, you play. If you're not good, you don't play. It's up to me to find the solutions back there. I'm not gonna say they're mean to me. I knew it all along. And we know what we're getting into. "
Among the little stories to tell, there's what happened to you last night. Can you tell us?
"It's the unexpected. I warn my wife and the little one that I'll be home early. I come home from training at 4pm. I'm changing. I come to the farm. A cow was giving birth. I come in, I start watching. I see there's something wrong. The calf was coming from the back, from the seat. You try to do it by yourself with your first movements. The calf was big enough, so I couldn't do it by myself. I called a vet last night at 7:00. We ended up doing a C-section on a cow to deliver the calf. Finally, the calf was saved and the cow was saved. And there it was. "
Where can we eat your meat?
"Direct sales, to free up the phone a bit, my wife has made a website. producer-meat-rey.fr. Then, by mail, by phone. Live too. People who come to see me. How do you do it. And often I take orders. We have a cow and a calf killed every month. So on a regular basis, you can have fresh meat on your plate. "
Auteur : FCG Rugby