Portraits of local people: Marie-Pierre Dodane, goatherd

A goatherd in a small village in Mont de Fuans, she raises goats and transforms their milk into cheeses, mainly fresh or matured. Her passion, inherited from a childhood immersed in the agricultural world, only came to fruition after a professional career in a completely different field. Marie-Pierre tells us her story and her attachment to Pays HorlogerHere is his portrait, in the series “portraits of local people”.

Watch the interview with Marie-Pierre Dodane

Immersion at Mont de Fuans, with Marie-Pierre, a goatherd passionate about her job... and her country, the Pays Horloger. Discover his portrait in the video below.

The special moment of the day

What I like about my job isbe in contact with customers and then tobeing in nature with my animalsMilking my goats is a special time of day. It's a special relationship I have with them. They are really very affectionate and require a lot of attention. I also appreciate the transformation of the product, from milk to cheese. It's very specific and the transformation is always a source of questioning, regularity, and rigor.

Memories of sunrise, of mist

I bought this farm from my grandparents; they were farmers. I spent my entire childhood and part of my adolescence there, and then I was lucky enough to be able to buy it back. I am very attached to this landscape, which is so unique to our region. Since I was little, I came to my grandparents' farm, I have always been immersed in agriculture. I also spent my holidays with my grandfather.We would leave early in the morning by tractor to milk the cows in a small lodge 600 meters away with memories of sunrise, mist, fresh milk, cows waking up... these are very beautiful memories.

A passion in reconversion

I was a seamstress, making high-end watch straps, I went to work in a factory in Switzerland where I climbed the ladder. In 2015 I was laid off. This layoff did me a favor in a way because I had my goat farm project running through my head for about twenty years. Following this dismissal, I was able to bounce back and resume my studies. I already had an agricultural diploma, but I was able to resume my studies with a specific focus on goat farming with processing, and from there I set up in 2017. I was lucky enough to already have the buildings, the farm with the land, which allowed me to launch my project and carry out my business.

Being a woman in the agricultural sector

I haven't really encountered any difficulties in establishing myself as a woman in my activity. I find that I was very well received by the local agricultural professionThe farmers were quite friendly.

I was lucky enough to have 7 hectares of rented land, which allowed me to get started. But I think that if I hadn't had these hectares of land that belonged to my grandparents, setting up would have been more complicated.

A career of maturity

The profession of goatherd or goatherd is a very demanding profession. you have to be really passionate, to have a lot of rigor.

I did this job as a career change, and I don't regret it today. I think thatyou have to start at a mature age. You have to go and see elsewhere, enjoy yourself, travel and gain experience. It's a job you're 100% into, it's so enriching, even if there are days when you doubt, you say to yourself that you might have taken the wrong path. When you have technical problems in the cheese factory, you have to rebalance the ripening process, you have to rebalance the acidity, it's complex. There are a few of us goatherd colleagues, we stick together when we have a problem, we call each other, we chat, we share our experiences. And when everything is going well, we tell ourselves that we still have a great job.

A deep attachment to the Pays Horloger

Le Pays Horloger is endearing, with its landscapes, its atypical buildings, its beautiful Franche-Comté farms and also all this beautiful nature still preserved to this dayI am particularly attached to Consolation, it is a place where I lived as a baby and I like to go there.

When I go on vacation, what I miss most is our beautiful landscapes with the fir trees, these green meadows with our Montbéliarde cows and then of course my goats.

In the years to come, I dream of a Pays Horloger still deeply agricultural where we can admire these beautiful Montbéliardes and goats, becausewe still need a bit of a mixed ruralityAnd then a nature that keeps its agricultural lands by avoiding large construction zones.

Marie-Pierre's tasting favorite

My favorite cheese today would be the semi-ripened log or the small ash tomette, which are quite flowery cheeses and can be creamy afterward. It all depends on the time of day. In the morning, I tend to eat a fresh cheese, after the meal a ripened cheese, and then in the evening, if we have the opportunity to have an aperitif, a small elderflower cheese or wild garlic cheese.

Visit the Mont de Fuans goat farm and meet Marie-Pierre

“Portraits of local people” series

Find more portraits of enthusiasts, residents of Pays Horloger, who share a little of their lives. Because before being a tourist destination, the Pays Horloger is a living, vibrant territory. These women and men are the Pays Horloger as well as our must-see natural sites! Meet them!