1,467m of hedges at Antoine’s

Context

La Bergerie des Arches is a family farm run by Antoine and Elise Mabille. Always passionate about livestock farming, they developed a farm focused on sheep and fodder self-sufficiency, recently complemented by a herd of Parthenaise cows.

Antoine (an agronomist by training) and Elise (an architect) built their sheepfold in Ohey in 2020, and in 2022 launched “L’agneau de votre terroir”, a marketing company that now brings together 38 breeders whose objective is to rely on short supply chains (restaurants, butcher shops, individuals).

Solutions & Practices Implemented

To achieve these objectives, Antoine & Elise have already integrated several agroecological practices:

• Diversified crop rotation to produce most of the animals’ feed on-site.
• 137 ha of permanent pastures, alfalfa, rapeseed, mixed grain, spelt, winter barley, and corn (silage and grain).
• Use of grazed cover crops in agreement with other farmers.
• Wool utilization for thermal insulation and local textiles.
• Additionally, the team plans to install an on-site cutting workshop to optimize logistics and energy.

In short, Antoine & Elise are not short of ideas and projects. They contacted us in 2025 to support an ambitious planting project.

We therefore conducted a site visit in July, which resulted in not one, but two planting projects: the planting of over 1km of hedges and tree alignments, which we discuss in another project.

2 main objectives:

• Strengthen the ecological network by installing melliferous and nourishing hedges for birds.
• Create shade for the animal welfare of the sheep.