Well that's the first part of the Paris mission completed, SIA the main livestock show is safely under my belt and a huge success it was too.
The English presence there was fantastic under the EBLEX banner, promoting not just English beef and lamb, but also English breeding stock. Disappointingly, there was no Scots or Welsh presence, a huge opportunity missed I feel, but all the better for us English that they weren't there to compete!
The main purpose of SIA is undoubtedly to promote farming to the French public and it puts every UK show to shame, explaining production from farm to fork.
And, hopefully, I completed the main part of my visit to SIA too, having found a highly suitable Southdown tup which I hope to import later in the year - now I just have to negotiate the price, always tricky when working in a foreign language and currency!
Interestingly, the French are milking Simmentals and impressively too, with yields in excess of 10,000 litres and cows with more than six lactations under there belt.
As for Paris, well we did the classic tourist thing yesterday and checked out the Eiffel Tower, for a giant meccano set its pretty impressive, but there was no way I was heading up it.
So, now its onwards to explore the delights of SIMA and more importantly SIMAGENA. I'll let you know how I get on and hopefully won't get lost in the maize of halls full of gleaming machinery.
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