Four Seasons on the Farm: Introduction (01:01)

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Louis XVI created an experimental farm on the Rambouillet Estate and decided to breed sheep.

Spring: Life in the Open Air— Livestock (10:59)

Rambouillet male sheep have horns and can withstand difficult climates. Laurent Ségeron demonstrates shearing, tagging, and trimming the animals' nails. Learn why Gascon, Limousine, and Holstein cows are treated differently. Other animals include nanny goats, piglets, horses, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, guinea fowl, and geese.

Spring: Life in the Open Air— Agriculture (07:19)

During the spring and summer, farmers grow cereal and fodder to feed the animals during the winter months. Bruno Saillet plows the fields and adds limestone and fertilizer prior to growing the corn. Red corn repels birds.

Spring: Life in the Open Air— In Heat (07:47)

INRA ewes are impregnated through natural and artificial means. Merino ewes cannot be inseminated. Farmers sow the ryegrass in Mid-June to make silage and hay.

Summer: Harvest and the Meadows— Early Summer (07:28)

Farmers sow barley, wheat, and triticale using a combine harvester. Thierry Laubé describes the conditions necessary for organic chicken production. Limousine cows bred 28 calves.

Summer: Harvest and the Meadows— Midsummer (03:56)

Rambouillet sheep and lambs eat in the woods to reduce grass. Vets perform ultrasounds on the ewes to count fetuses and prepare for the coming winter.

Summer: Harvest and the Meadows— September (04:07)

The entire stalk of corn is harvested with a rented forage harvester. Limousine herds harvest the grass and then ruminate it.

Autumn: Sowing and Birth— Agriculture (02:35)

Animals will soon return to the cowshed for the winter except the blackface sheep. Farmers plant triticale for the winter.

Autumn: Sowing and Birth— New animals (10:40)

Ségeron feeds the sheep; a mother gives birth to a lamb. Ranchers use artificial insemination to impregnate Holstein female cows. Watch Vodka give birth to a calf. Learn how Burel burns the horns as a safety precaution.

Winter: Everybody Indoors (08:18)

Saillet prepares the morning feed and milks the Holstein cows. Every three weeks they clean out the manure in the pen. Lambs are separated from their mothers at meal times.

Credits: Four Seasons on a Farm (00:26)

Credits: Four Seasons on a Farm