Vaches en Piste · 2027

Agoris analysis · updated November 2026

Key points

• Vaches en Piste describes itself as « the agricultural show of Haute-Savoie » (« le salon de l'agriculture de la Haute-Savoie »). It is first and foremost a large dairy-farming gathering: breed competitions, an auction of elite heifers and queen fights (batailles de reines). Around it sit a line-up of exhibitors aimed at farmers and a public-facing side that widens in 2027.
• Next edition: the 3rd, from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 April 2027, at Rochexpo, the exhibition centre of La Roche-sur-Foron.
• Organiser: the association APMH, standing for « Abondance, Primholstein, Montbéliarde, Hérens », founded in July 2020 and run by 25 farmers. No co-organiser.
• Frequency: every two years, in odd-numbered years (2023, 2025, 2027). Official website: vachesenpiste.fr.
• Results of the latest edition, in March 2025, according to the organiser: 140 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors. No breakdown between trade and general public is published.
• Announced for 2027: nearly 700 animals, including 570 cows, a 3,500 m² marquee and 21,000 m² of exhibition space.
• The 2027 stand price list is public: from €1,460 excl. VAT for 9 m² indoors.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The 2027 exhibitors page splits the offer into 21 categories: agricultural supplies, livestock feed, farm machinery, livestock equipment, milking, buildings, agricultural contractors (ETA), small equipment, solar, cheese making, food industries, agricultural professional organisations (OPA), breeding organisations, unions, services, sales department, tourism, leisure, crafts, equipment and machinery, and a producers' market.

The commercial core is therefore aimed at the mountain dairy farm: what it buys, what finances it, what advises it. Crafts, producers and tourism are aimed mainly at families. An exhibitor needs to know which side they are playing on before choosing a pitch.

Notable exhibitors

The 2027 list has not been filled in yet: each category shows empty lines. No exhibitor is therefore confirmed for this edition at the time of writing.

The 2025 list gives a sense of what was presented two years ago. Farm machinery: Bosson, Chavanel, Duvernay. Milking: BouMatic, Selair GEA, Alpes Léman Robotiques. Livestock equipment: Bioret, Groupe JLC, Cow House. Feed: Kersia, Oxyane, Coopérative Jura Mont-Blanc. Animal health and small equipment: Virbac France, MSD Santé animale, Opinel. Organisations: Chambre d'agriculture Savoie Mont-Blanc, Cerfrance, Safer Aura, Umotest.

Visitor quality

The audience is mixed, and the organiser embraces both sides: the association says it wants to share its passion « with the general public » (« avec le grand public ») and « with professionals » (« avec les professionnels »). The €9 adult ticket and the family activities open the doors wide, and no breakdown by visitor profile is published. The figure of 50,000 visitors in 2025 comes from the organiser and has not been the subject of a published third-party audit.

The trade side shows in the programme. Farmers come for the competitions in their breed and for the heifer sale, which the website describes as bringing together breeders « from all over France and neighbouring countries » (« venus de toute la France et des pays voisins »). It is a very targeted buying audience, to be found around the ring and in the cow hall rather than at the entrance to the show.

The 2025 edition also welcomed more than 1,000 pupils from 50 primary school classes, on organised routes, as well as secondary schools and training centres. It was opened by Annie Genevard, then Minister of Agriculture.

Activities & community

Conference programme

Conferences are announced for Thursday, Friday and Saturday: about thirty minutes of presentation, then about ten minutes of discussion between professionals and the public. The detailed programme had not been published at the time of writing.

Competitions and auction

The 2027 programme announces a Miss Nationale Abondance with an inter-departmental Savoie and Haute-Savoie competition, making 150 to 170 cows; 150 Prim'Holstein; 150 Montbéliarde; 30 Tarine; a Hérens morphology competition for France, Switzerland and Italy with 30 cows, and a queen fight on Sunday with 70 other Hérens. Timings are still to come: the site only places the Montbéliardes on Friday and the queen fight on Sunday.

The Piste aux Étoiles is the show's auction of elite heifers. It offered eleven in 2025. The site announces ten heifers and a Comtois mare for 2027, with the catalogue and timing still to be published.

The show also gives space to the next generation: a training centres challenge, a young handlers competition open to ages 10 to 25, and a presentation of calves by farmers' children on Sunday. The 2025 edition had 100 young handlers and 7 training centres.

What's new in 2027

The site highlights a milking parlour set up inside the show, a 3,500 m² marquee and an expanded public programme: sport lumberjacking, a farming simulator, a mechanical bull. Added to this is a first « region of honour » (« région à l'honneur »), the Aosta Valley, joined by Valais farmers and the Compagnons des Reines in an outdoor area.

Community & networks

The association brings together four founding members: the Organisme de Sélection des Races Alpines Réunies, the Syndicat Montbéliard de Haute-Savoie, the Syndicat Holstein de Haute-Savoie and the Compagnons des Reines. The Chambre d'agriculture Savoie Mont-Blanc supports the event.

For the 2025 edition, Terres des Savoie lists six main partners: the Département de la Haute-Savoie, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the Crédit Agricole des Savoie, DeLaval-Savoie Élevage, Groupama, and the Communauté de communes du Pays Rochois together with the town of La Roche-sur-Foron.

As for the press, the website keeps a press review featuring Le Dauphiné Libéré and Terres des Savoie.

The show's national positioning is still being built. Le Dauphiné Libéré of 27 October 2025 writes that in 2025 the show received more dairy cows than the Salon International de l'Agriculture. A national exhibitor will more likely weigh it against SPACE or the Sommet de l'Élevage on two criteria: a gathering only every two years, and a primarily Savoyard base.

On site: what you need to know

The show occupies the whole of Rochexpo, at 59 rue des Centaures in La Roche-sur-Foron. The organiser advertises 21,000 m² and says it is the only show to fill the entire site. The 2027 plan carries the words « Nouvelle implantation » (new layout) and spreads the event across halls A and B and outdoor areas: the plan of a past edition is therefore no longer valid.

Rochexpo has announced works: renovation of the upper part of hall B and redevelopment of the outdoor areas, according to Terres des Savoie in October 2025. The site's president spoke there of a tight schedule and a theoretical 20-month building project, and promised that everything would be ready for the show. The state of the site on the date of the show should be confirmed with APMH before signing.

Public opening hours: Thursday 1 April from 8.30am to 7pm, Friday 2 April from 8.30am to 12.30am with late opening, Saturday 3 April from 8am to 8.30pm, Sunday 4 April from 8.30am to 6pm. One-day ticket: €9 for an adult, €5 for ages 5 to 13, free under 5, free for people with reduced mobility and their companion. Ticketing was not yet open at the time of writing.

By car, the organiser gives the A40 and A41 from Paris, the A43 and A41 from Lyon, the Liane and A410 from Geneva, then the La Roche-sur-Foron, Parc des expositions exit. By train, the TER links Annecy to La Roche-sur-Foron, and the station is 850 metres from the exhibition centre according to Rochexpo. Free shuttles run from the station and from Amancy, and free car parks are provided around the site. The nearest airports are Geneva, 25 km away, and Annecy, 35 km; Lyon Saint-Exupéry is 130 km away.

The accommodation page lists two hotels in La Roche-sur-Foron with APMH pre-booking, Les Afforêts and Le Foron, and points to the tourist offices of La Roche-sur-Foron and Monts de Genève.

How much does it cost to exhibit

The 2027 pack provides for a 30% deposit on booking and a balance due on 1 March 2027. The rules are worth reading before signing: if the exhibitor cancels, the deposit remains with the organiser whatever the reason, and the balance is due if the cancellation comes less than 90 days before opening, that is after 1 January 2027.

Preparing your visit

For exhibitors

• Contact Bénédicte Ferrandis, in charge of sales, early (+33 6 22 40 05 37, apmh.commercialisation@vachesenpiste.fr): the new layout changes the bearings of regular exhibitors.
• Do not rely on the online exhibitor guide for the schedule: this document is still the 2025 one, with its dates and its former contact. In 2025, outdoor set-up began on the Monday, indoor set-up took place the day before opening, and dismantling ran until 5pm on the Monday. The 2027 times need to be requested.
• Schedule client meetings around the competition for the target breed, as soon as the times are published. In 2025, the Montbéliardes competed on Friday, the Abondance and Prim'Holstein on Saturday.
• Check the health clause: the organiser may cancel or postpone the show, up to 30 days before opening, if it judges the health measures incompatible with holding it or the number of registrations insufficient. The exhibitor then gets their deposit or payment back, but bears the costs already incurred. The subject is far from theoretical for a cattle show: the site expresses its solidarity with farmers affected by lumpy skin disease (dermatose nodulaire contagieuse).
• Plan the power supply: only one 3 kW box is included in the indoor stand.

For decision-maker visitors

• Choose your day by breed, once the programme is published: the trade visitor comes first for a ring.
• Look closely at the Piste aux Étoiles if you buy genetics: the catalogue is still to be published.
• Use the conferences for discussions with the speakers, planned at each session.
• Plan ahead for weekend access: in 2025, two shuttle routes were set up for the public on those two days.

CSR policy & initiatives

The show publishes no formal CSR policy, no carbon assessment and no ISO 20121 certification: the website has no dedicated section, and the association APMH is not attached to any organising group with its own programme. Its message concerns the very purpose of the event, showing « farming practices that respect animal welfare and the environment » (« pratiques d'élevage respectueuses du bien-être animal et de l'environnement »). The site also puts online, in its archives, an ethics code for the competitions. These are intentions and a competition framework, not a quantified commitment.

The venue goes further on paper. Rochexpo publishes a page, Nos engagements RSE, and refers to an eco-responsible charter, with objectives of preserving resources, limiting CO2 emissions and promoting the local economy. No quantified result appears there.

The local roots are, by contrast, verifiable: a market of local producers and craftspeople, and an operation relying on volunteering, with 500 volunteers in 2025 according to the organiser, or more than 10,000 hours according to Terres des Savoie.

How the show has evolved

The show is young. The association was founded in July 2020, the first edition took place in 2023 and the two-yearly rhythm was announced in 2025. The visible shift is from a gathering of farmers towards a more open event: from 120 to 140 exhibitors between the first two editions, and 2027 communication that puts the general public forward.

The team has also changed. Philippe Missillier, an Abondance breeder in Le Grand-Bornand, succeeded Florent Duclos as president in October 2025, and the management and sales team were renewed, according to Terres des Savoie. The 3rd edition will therefore be the first for this new team.

The 2023 figures come from Terres des Savoie, relayed on the show's press review. Those for 2025 come from the organiser.

All data without an explicit source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (vachesenpiste.fr).