Laura Laplaud with AFP 08:00, February 23, 2024

On the eve of the opening of the Salon de l'Agriculture, which takes place from February 24 to March 3, 2024 at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center, let's look back at a 13-year-old tradition.

Each year, a cow is named the muse of the edition.

This year, it’s called Oreillette.

As with each edition of the International Agricultural Show (SIA), a cow is the face of the event.

But where does this tradition come from?

Why a cow and not a sheep, a pig or a rabbit?

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A symbol"

Posters, entry tickets, social networks, press... The muse's photo has been available on all media for 13 years.

This year, Oreillette, a five-year-old Norman cow, raised by two farmers (father and daughter) in Orne, will be the face of the next Agricultural Show in Paris from February 24 to March 3, 2024. With its three-color dress and “well-designed” glasses, this cow decorated at the 2023 National Normandy competition “is the ideal ambassador of the Normandy breed, honored at the 2024 International Agricultural Show”.

Why a cow as a muse?

Because this animal “is a real symbol”, explains Valérie Le Roy, director of the SIA.

“During surveys carried out with visitors, we realized that this mammal represented the whole show as a whole,” she continues.

The flagship animal of the farm therefore.

According to the director of the Salon de l'Agriculture, it is about "promoting a breed, but also the women and men whose activity is linked to it, the products it manufactures and the territory in which it lives". 

How is the cow chosen?

But becoming a muse cannot be improvised!

Breeds wishing to apply must send their application before the opening of the previous edition, indicates the website of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Then, the final decision is made in May, after the jury meeting.

The breeding organizations take note of the decision in June, and the breed president chooses the cow by early July at the latest.

"We ensure that the alternation between meat breed and dairy breed is respected. This year, it is a Norman, while Ovalie represented the meat breed sector during the previous edition. We also pay attention to the "balance between small breeds and large breeds", we learn on the site.