Sablière Farm

It’s a family working together and the passion of generations that give the Master Breeder award to the Fournier family. In 1898, Mr. Alfred Fournier established the farm in St-Rosaire, in the Bois-Francs region in Quebec. His son Bruno took over the farm some years later and it’s then that the dairy production was really developed. In the 40’s, he invested in purebred Ayrshires, which prompted him to start milk recording. With artificial insemination, the herd improved quickly. In 1974, it was René’s turn to carry the flame for the family farm. Youngest son of the family, his goal was the same as that of the previous generations, which was to improve the herd and the installations, and breed productive animals that live a long time. In 1988, René and his wife Céline formed an association, Céline then took over the farm’s accounting and contined her involvement in the daily tasks at the farm. Their two sons, Mathiew and David are also very involved in the business; the last one is actually a shareholder with René and Céline. They do not hide the fact that they also owe their success and good work to their faithful employee, Pierre Noël, who has now been at the farm for 30 years. The past years have been filled with success at Ferme Sablière, their milk production as well as top show success and high classifying animals. Their Master-Breeder points were obtained from those categories, having numerous cows with high lifetime milk production, three of which are over 100,000kg, and many VG cows. This is in fact their vision for the future, to always do better with constant improvement of the animals. In 2009 notably, it was Sablière Wilton Astre, EX 93 who brought honor to the farm by winning the Intermediate Champion rosette and Reserve Grand Champion title at the Royal in Toronto. Another cow that also contributed to the title is Sablière Andres Kally, VG 86, who has a lifetime production of 116,488kg of milk with components of 4.1% fat and 3.3% protein in 11 lactations, to name only these two. The farm uses the best bulls available and embryo transfer is also used on their best animals. At the moment, the herd has one EX, 13 VG, 28 GP and 8 G. The production average stands at 8219kg of milk with 4% fat and 3.3% protein for BCA’s of 243-236-247. For them, the title of Master Breeder represents the result of hard and passionate work with their Ayrshires. It’s also a great source of motivation for the years to come, which is to do better, and better. It’s also a proof of success according to the Fournier Family’s vision of always having a cow that can produce lots of milk over many lactations. For them, it’s an honor to now have the title of Master Breeder to their credit and they wish to share it with all those who have worked to improve and increase the farm’s performance, their ancestors, their family, the consultants and all the Ayrshire breeders who contribute day after day to the improvement of the Ayrshire breed and who, ipso facto, contribute in improving their herd.