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The Marans Club of France |
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As it
was declared by the official newspaper on September 24th
1929, the associatioon known as "Marans Club of
France" covers the whole national territory
including the french overseas deprtments. But the other
countries of the european communauty as well as other
nations can join the club.
One of the main goals, right from the start of the work of the MCF in 1929, was to ensure the geographical expansion of the Marans. Today, we can consider that this choice was a great importance in the current acknowledgement of the extraordinary expansion of this breed in our country and abroad. |
The purposes of the MCF :
° to facilitate and to intensify the expansion of the breed
° to defend the "extra reddish brown egg" and its color which is the main characteristic of the breed
An
official
colorimetric range of the shades has
been decided on and put into service by The Marans Club of France
to promote the traditional farming
to develop and encourage the "variety selection" in every fields : morphology, laying, fecundity,
eggs, flesh quality, hatching respecting the official standard decided on by the association and by the commission
of the standard of the ANJA (poultry judge national association)
affiliated to the SCAF.
The MCF has accompagnated the history of the Marans breed since the origins. It has allowed us to keep invaluable accounts about this breed. On that head, we can admit that, contrary to some breeds, we have a noticeable knowledge of the Marans history thanks to the oldness of its specialized club.
The archives and the deliberation register of The Marans Club of France have allowed us to draw this condensed historic.
1929 : Creation of the MCF
On September 12th 1929, The Marans Club of France was created at the hotel of the direction of the agricultural services in Charente which is situated above La Rochelle. The management committee is made up of :
Mr Bouyet
Chairman
Mr Roux
Vice-Chairman
Mr Jouineaux
Vice-Chairman
Mrs Rousseau, Mrs Very, Voilet and Warocquiez
Secretary
1931 : 53 subscriber members
The temporary standards were approved on April 2nd 1931.
From 1931 to 1939:
Mr
Bouyer remained chairman of the MCF. There were some
modifications amongst the members of the management committee. An
issue of the "Aviculteur Français" on June 1st
1931 was used as a propaganda medium for the Marans. 5000 copies
were published and it was financed by the agricultural offices of
the two departments (Charente and Charente Maritime).
The MCF took part in agricultural meetings exhibition in Lille (80
Marans were presented), in Paris, in Nantes, in Lyon, in La
Rochelle, …
Regulation of the competition of the "nicest egg" was
adopted.
Subjects had to be rung from 1933.
Debates about the "feathered feet" or the "smooth
feet".
More homogeneity of the breed is searched in each variety. The
MCF took part in the poultry farming exhibition in La Rochelle
from the 7th to the 11th
of April.
1940:
The frontpage of the newspaper called Rustica (number 21 of May 26th 1940) was dedicated to the "Marandaise".
Second world war
1944
Louis
Serre asked the poultry farmers not to renew the mistakes of the
past.
good "Formally,
we sacrified the breeds of Barbezieux, La Fleche, Le Mans, Creve
Cœur, which have made the French and food famous and
renowned the world over, to welcome new comers from AmericaBresse,
. Are we going, today, to sacrifice our Gatinaises, Faverolles,
Marans, Gournays and so many others on the attar devoted to the
workship of Anglobreeds-Saxon ?"
1946: "The Marans club took up again its activity interrupted by the war years".
Mr Deraze is chairman. Mr Petit is vice-chairman and Mr Bachelier is secretary. amongst the people who were present at the meetings, there were Mr P. Harel (President of the poultry society Aunis Saintonge) and Mr Picard (Director of the agricultural services).
The
priorities were :
- to recruit a lot of members
- to make the breed known
- to select the "Marans subjects according to the color and
the size of the egg", which will improve the quality of the
egg.
Quoting from the register : "the constant improvement and selection of this wonderful regional breed whose qualities of grood layer and the exceptional beauty of its reddish brown eggs must offer it in the days to come the first place in the poultry national livestock.
people Quoting again from the register : "The Marans club warn the amateurs of this poss. against a press tending to make admit that to have reddish brown eggs is sufficient to have Marans poultriesvery . There is a standard of this breed which is clearly defined".
On October 24th 1946, Mr Picard, who was the Director of the agricultural services in Charente Maritime declared :
"For one year, we have vainly been trying, thanks to articles in the newspapers, to find in our area serious poultry farmers of the Marans breed, and we must admit that we have found noon because there is no such people. We can find poultry farmers of sundry hens laying reddish-brown eggs and some poultry farmers who own pure breed subjects but who have never been selected… To sum up, there is no real Marans lineage in the area."
Mr Pierre Harel deplored the bad sanitary state of the animals presented in the exhibitions. He asked the breeding stock to show more rigour and care in their farmings.
Birth of the idea of a cooperative MACC (Marandais Agricultural Cooperative Center) established in Dompierre and whose purpose is the following.
1) to give its members specially selected products of the Marans breed which are necessary for their farming.
2) the implementation of the study and selecting means of the Marans breed.
1947
The creation of the standards was
brought up but postponed.
Mr Deraze
Chairman
Mr Bachelier
Vice-Chairman
Mr Harel Pierre
Vice-Chairman
The
CECAM was working on 4 varieties : silver cuckoo, golden cuckoo,
white, Brown-red.
1948
Mr Liet
Chairman
Mr Bouet
Secretary, Treasurer
1949
The "black" variety known
as "without collaret" was admitted in the standards.
1950
Schedule of the exhibitions : Lille, Rennes, Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Niort, La Roche-sur-Yon, Nantes .
1951
Schedule of the exhibitions : Caen, Vichy, Strasbourg, Poitiers
1952
Schedule
of the exhibitions : Nantes, Metz, Loches, Toulouse, Paris, Niort,
La Roche-sur-Yon, Thouars, Nice.
Reference of a "golden book of the Marans" relating the
lineage of the elite subjects of the Marans (which cannot be
found in the archives).
Mr Picard, who was the director of the agricultural services,
said : "we can't
be more specific about the standard until further notice, and as
long as the genetic work hasn't been finished. So the temporary
standards remained in force.
1958
Making up of an address book provided to everyone asking information.
Mr Liet
Chairman
Mr Cordier, Mr Pellereau, Mrs Clochard
Vice-Chairman
Mr Bachelier
Treasurer secretary (because Mr Bouet has passed away)
The center of Lagord (C.E.C.A.M.) was still existing in 1959, but not for a long time
because the Marans of the center was not quite up to the mark
notably due to the color of the eggs and the sanitary state.
1959
The Marans was coveted by the industrial field.
There was a lively debate concerning the maintenance of the standards. Mr Cordier asserted that "it was essential to crossbreed the Marans with other better good layer breeds, while keeping the initial goal : to preserve the reddish-brown egg".
During
the extraordinary general meeting on July 30th
1959, it has been decided to create, within the Marans club,
two groups :
Group
A : manufacturers (farmers owning at least 300
purebred breeding stock or 50 cocks for crossing improving the
laying and the flesh).
Group B : amateurs, farm breeding (for
domestic use).
Mrs
Clochard, who was Vice-Chairman, was strongly opposed to this and
believed that the interests of the farm breeding were damaged
because this lattet hasn't been informed of the statute change
and she wanted the general assembly to be cancelled. But it was
refused.
1960
Mrs
Clochard has been suspended from the office of Vice-Chairman.
The group A was set up.
The farmers of industrial crossbreeding with Marans were called
for joining the club.
Edition of postcards illustring white Marans and cuckoo Marans.
1961
Edition
of a color postcard (a egg board).
Creation of a category of "productors of extra reddish-brown
egg" of the Marans and of its crossings.
Due to the important lack of photographic documentation, all the
members of the MCF were called to take photos of subjects or
breeds.
1963 13 members
Mr
Bachelier was Chairman (due to Mr Liet's death).
On the occasion of the general assembly on June 1st
1963, every present farmer declared that his production wasn't
sufficient to meet the demands and that the selling of the
products was not a problem.
Mr Meuraud, who represented the direction of the agricultural services of Charente Maritime underlined that "without the care brought by the group B (amateurs) and the prizes it won during the exhibitions, the knowledge of the Marans breed would be little propagated, … but that on the other hand, if the production of the group A (manufacturers) didn't exist to meet the demand, the group B would become a charming ceremonial group.
1964
Mr
Signac resigned. He wrote in a letter that he wanted that only
the selecting farmer of the pure bred Marans could be admitted in
the MCF.
Standard : "the
tarsus are tolerated grey and darker for the silver-black variety".
The principe of breeding
homologation was abolished unanimously.
The demand of extra reddish-brown eggs increased.
1965
Setting
up of road signs on. The 137 and
138 national road : "Marans, capital of the hen
which lays extra reddish-brown eggs". |
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There
was a longhty agricultural correspondence between the chairman,
Mr Bachelier, and Mrs Germaine Joliot, amateur farmer of Brown-red
in Bellefontaine. Mrs Joliot did a very valuable work. She
received the agricultural merit at the age of 100 and was still a
member of the MCF whichwas restructured after 1991. Her written
testemonces and her personal archives about the MCF would be very
useful from 1991.
1966
Last
general assembly on April 30th 1966
Mr Bougrain-Dubourg
Chairman
Mr Cordier
Vice-Chairman
Mr Boussiron
Vice-Chairman
Mr Priouzeau
Treasurer
Mr Priouzeau
Secretary
It was noticed that :
1. The white variety was clearly
declining
2. The silver-black variety was not easily determined due to its
standards.
If
the selection and the promotion of the Marans have encountered so
many difficulties, it was partly due to the dissensions generated
by a standard with changes always announced but never carried out.
The laws to pass on some characteristics of the Marans were not
developed enough yet, so that this work, done without marks,
favoured conflicts and divisions.
3. The silver-cuckoo variety was more
and more asked for. As an archived
mail testified to, a batch of one cock and ten pullets of the
silver-cuckoo variety coming from Mr Boussiron's farmins, has
been sent, at Mrs De Gaulle's request, France first Lady, to the
farmyard in Colombey les deux Eglises.
4. The demand of Marans cocks
intended to provide crossing stocks, is higher and higher.
Exhibition in London : 40 Marans
subjects were exhibited.
The official sovietic mission is in visit in France, which Mr
Bougrain is specially in charge with to organise the program of
the visit notably in Marans. "Letting people hope for future
exchanges for everyone".
Période de 1967 à 1991
The
deliberation register stopped on April 30th
1966.
Over this date, we could only find in the archives mails from
farmers sent to the registered office and which attested the life
of the association. Where are the cotisations ?
A
mail dating back to July 1968, dealt with 175 chickens from
Moscow laying more than 220 eggs per hen, was sent to the
president Patrice Bougrain-Dubourg in order to make regenerative
crossings with the Marans. These crossings turned out to be
totally negative : there were catastrophes at the level of the
egg color and the darkening of the eyes color.
During
all that time, numerous mails indicating the still important
interest from the great Marans farmers have allowed the president
of the MCF to draw a list including the address of the
sympathizers and of the farmer looking for breeding stock.
At
this time, the silver-black Marans rarely received the highest
award in the exhibitions (GPH or GPE)
In
the 80s and 90s, there were a lot of contacts between Mr Bougrain-Dubourg
and notably passionate farmers coming from the north of France
which were able to convince him of the need to bring back the
club to life by getting in touch with all these people interested
by the Marans.
1991
On
January 19th, on Mr Bougrain-Dubourg 's
proposal, the MCF assembly met in Ohis (02) and elected :
Mr Deprez Serge
Chairman
In
accordance with the statutes, the registered office of the
association was moved to : 12, rue de l'Eglise in Ohis (02500),
which was the new president's domicile. The MCF new team was
convinced of the legitimacy and strength of the values such as
identity, land, respect of animal, but also of the knowledge of
genetic laws which are applied to rigorous method of selection.
These
values could only become established on a serious and a long term
work by reconstructing the scattered founders, by pursuing
precise historical research, by getting closer to the best
specialists (notably in genetics), by renewing the dialogue with
the SCAF, by making up a documentation and by getting down to
work.
Mr
André Dussud, who has been president of the French poultry
farming central society reinforced our idea to modify the
standard and these changes have always been announced in a
recurrent way in the MCF day book since 1929 but have never been
carried out because some discoveries about genetics but which
have never been exploited.
Obviously,
there was no question of disrupting everything but rather to
clarify some essential points which put the farmers in a hopeless
situation and harmed the reputation of the Brown-red variety and
of those which were to become the fawn with black tail and the
wheat varieties.
The
new team had then understood that the exploitation of the Marans
(breed which was extinct in the professional farming's), would go
through the recruiting of the highest possible number of small
farmers who would keep and improve the founders.
Indeed,
from 1963, Mr Meuraud, who was representing the direction of the
agricultural services of Charente Maritime, has already declared
that only the care brought by the group B of the MCF (amateurs
farmers) and the prizes it receives during the exhibitions,
ensure the spreading of the Marans.
Just as we found again the addresses
of those numerous farmers throughout France and even notably in
Belgium and who were writing to the registered office of the MCF
in Lanoue, a bulletin dummy issue in November 1991, was sent in
order to make possible their gathering.
From that moment on, 120 farmers
answered present at roll call joining the club and so permitted
the foundations of the MCF revival.
1992
The MCF was revived by the
subscriptions finally paid by the members. At this time, there
were 140 members.
First French championship in
Rochefort sur Mer. The bulletin
issue 1 was published in May 1992 with the list of the MCF
members paying their subscription, of the farm bred varieties and
the list of the regional chief representatives.
A
first French championship took place again in Rochefort sur Mer
to show the determination of the leader team to revive the
birthplace of the Marans. But it would also be "a turning
championship" that is to say that it will take place every
year in a different area since the Marans is present throughout
the territori, and even beyond.
The
MCF logo was brought up into date corresponding to what has
always existed, that is to say insisting on the exceptional color
of the egg and the Marans look.
A
MCF stamp and a sticker reinforced the identity of the
association.
A service of official ring supping was created.
The MCF studied and launched upon research about the silver-cuckoo variety which was for a long time the most widespread
variety.
The MCF team would like to get in touch with the Marans Club
again.
1993
150 members
French championship
in Cambrai
A shade card of the eggs was
established (important tool to set
the marks).
The standard, which was changed after fruitful contacts Marlene Le Goff, agricultural judge, and Jean-Claude Periquet’s will to consult the specialized clubs, was permanently adopted and ratified by the standard commission.
The
MCF carried on with the research about the Brown-red variety and wrote an essential article about the wheat-colored Marans which shed light on years of obscurantism.
The second French championship of the Marans and its eggs took place in Cambrai as well as the general meeting of the MCF.
Mr Deprez Serge
Chairman
Mrs Le Goff Marylène
Vice-Chairman
Mr Le Goff Joseph
Vice-Chairman
Mr Maufroy Bernard
Vice-Chairman
Mr Liedts Michel
Treasurer
1994
190 members French championship in Avignon.
The
MCF supplemented its research about the wheat variety and added the fawn with black tail variety.
André Dussud notified us of a study concerning the Marans in the
newspaper "La vie à la campagne" of 1931 in which were
published the eldest
known photos of the Marans.
1995
210
members
French Championship
in Toulouse.
Publication
of a "special
white Marans" issue, variety
which has been reformed for many years by Mr Jean Veret or even
by Mr Etienne Coti.
The
MCF was present again in the agricultural exhibition in Paris.
Some chicks were demanded, sometimes in thousands in France,
Africa and in the French overseas departments, but couldn't be
provided.
After
the "white Marans" the MCF finished its study about
this variety by publishing an article dedicated to the "bantam Marans".
Honour prizes, and even exhibition great prizes, were again awarded to the Marans in various exhibitions.
1996
250 members
French Championship
in Nevers.
Professional farmers were interested again in the Marans and contacted the MCF.
1997
265
members
French Championship
in Colmar
The
ring service was managed with the ut most rigour by the treasurer
Mr Liedts.
The setting up of the regional representatives went on.
1998
309 members and 6100 official rings
were distributed.
French Championship
in Chatellerault.
"National poultries" : 200 Marans subjects were exhibited.
The MCF work began to be acknowledged by the various official agricultural authorities.
During the general meeting, the statutes were recognized as being in accordance with the 1901 law. Election of a board of directors made up of 12 members.
The vice-president of the department council of Charente Jean Harel, and the vice-president of the department council of Poitou Charente, Mr Louis Mallet, who were both farmers and members, noticing the smooth running of the MCF, would like to combine the regional authorities with the future of the Marans. The idea of an European championship in Marans in 2000 was carried unanimously.
They decided to write a book dedicated to the Marans and to print a poster and some postcards.
From this moment on, a large part of the purposes that the MCF team has laid down since 1991 were likely to be carried out since the means used would be, this time, economic, cultural and qualitative means.
Birth of the German Marans club in September 1998 which respected the principles and standard, and wished to work in close collaboration with the MCF.
1999
380 members and 12000 official rings were delivered to the members.French Championship in La Roche sur Foron.
There
was a 90-subject exhibition for the one and only coppery-black
Marans and an exceptional presentation of the extra reddish-brown
eggs.
The ideas which were floated in Chatellerault began to take shape.
To
reinforce the qualitative step which was necessary for the
rebirth of the quality of the poultry craft industry, both in the
birth place and on the whole national territory, some study
committees were set up with the Poitiers research institute on
the food processing quality, with the support and effective
action of the Charente Maritime department, of the Poitou
Charente area and the president of the Aunis Saintonge poultry
society.
The
chamber of agriculture and the town of Marans with its major Mr
Bouchereau, get involved in this project and wish that by 2002,
according to Jean Harel's idea the Marans academy would be
created.
A public notice of the Marans European championship of 2000 was made in collaboration with all the partners. It case widespread to the MCF members at the agricultural exhibition and in the areas.
In 2000 and the future... European Championship in Marans.
At the end of 2000, there were more than 400 members. So the MCF was the largest French club specialized in a purebred fawn.
The
national press was interested in the Marans phenomenon through
numerous articles added to the archives of the MCF.
The
2000 championship, which has reached a record high with more than
400 Marans (great success for the breed) was a turning point for
the MCF with the distribution of the book, postcards and a large
exhibition board.
The
MCF reaffirmed, as for the selection of the Marans, the absolute refusal of any crossing
and the respect of the phenotype, while preserving the egg ang
plumage color.
It
informed and encourage its farmers to work in order to obtain a
more and more important genetic variety and so to fight against
the possible harmful effects of consanguinity.
The
MCF members, through the academy project, wanted, over the
preservation of the race, to support its revival and its
reimplantation while making sure of their control on this
development. So it
was out of the question for them to start a productivist or
unreasonable step.
The present internet site of the MCF
was born with the new millennium on January 1st 2001. It allowed
the MCF to receive regular messages from France, Europe, Canada
or the United States.
It contributed towards in increase of the number of the members
and the honest and exhaustive piece of information to the Marans
amateurs in France and beyond our borders.
Increase of the members number of the MCF since 1991: Since 1991, year of the MCF revival by the present team, the increase of the number of members has been positive and regular. This strengthening, reinforced in 2000, made the MCF (with more than 540 members), the most important French club specialized in on my one purebred poultry |
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