Browse our dairy farm listings for sale. Purchase a farm with cows, milking parlour or robot, UAA and livestock buildings.
France is a land of agricultural tradition where milk production plays a major role. As the second-largest European producer, France has thousands of farms spread across the entire country, offering a wide variety of production systems. Acquiring a dairy farm is therefore a major project, whether for a first installation or for the expansion of an existing structure.
A modern dairy farm is a complex production unit that requires specific infrastructure to ensure animal welfare and economic profitability. At the heart of the system, the livestock building houses the herd. Today, most structures operate with free-stall housing, allowing animals to move around freely. Depending on the farmer’s preferences and bedding management, there may be systems with deep-bedded yards or cubicles, the latter providing comfortable individual lying areas. Although rarer nowadays, tie-stall barns can still be found in some mountain areas or on traditional farms, although the trend is towards modernisation.
Technical equipment is crucial. Milking, a key moment in the day, is traditionally carried out in a milking parlour (herringbone, side-by-side or rotary). However, automation is gaining ground to reduce the arduousness of work, and many listings now feature farms equipped with a milking robot. Once collected, the milk is stored and cooled in a bulk tank before being collected by the dairy or processed on site.
Manure management is also a central issue, requiring a compliant slurry pit or manure store to meet environmental regulations. Inside the building, comfort and hygiene are ensured by specific livestock equipment such as scrapers for manure removal, or self-locking yokes for restraining animals during care or feeding. Feeding itself is finely managed, sometimes with the help of an ACF (Automatic Concentrate Feeder) to adjust the ration of each cow.
The French dairy cattle herd is recognised worldwide for its quality. Buyers will find herds made up of the famous Holstein, known for its high yields, Montbéliarde, appreciated for its robustness and cheese-making qualities, or Normande, emblematic of western France.
Geographically, the range of opportunities is wide. The Grand Ouest (Brittany, Normandy, Pays de la Loire) remains the historic dairy basin with a high density of dairy cows. However, opportunities also exist in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (often linked to PDO cheeses), in the Grand Est and in Hauts-de-France. Both intensive systems and mixed crop-livestock farms, combining cash crops and livestock, can be found.
Buying a farm is not something you improvise. Beyond the sale price, several technical and economic criteria must be carefully examined to ensure a successful farm takeover.
The first element to check is the farm’s feeding capacity. The UAA (Utilised Agricultural Area) and more specifically the forage area must be in line with the herd size. Feed autonomy is a guarantee of profitability. You need to assess the land’s capacity to produce maize silage, grass for bale silage or hay, and check access to grazing. Grouped parcels around the buildings are a major asset for grazing dairy cows and limiting mechanisation costs.
The composition of the herd is also essential: it is not enough to count the lactating cows. You must assess genetic quality, animal health status and age structure, including heifers and calves in the calf shed, as they represent the future of production.
From an economic standpoint, the dairy contract is crucial. It defines the volumes (the former milk quota) and the prices paid to the producer. For those aiming for added value, the existence of a dairy processing facility with an equipped cheese dairy, or organic milk certification (organic milk), may justify a higher transfer price but offer better remuneration per hectare.
The condition of the buildings is another major point of attention. Upgrading to standards (particularly for livestock effluents) can represent a very significant cost after purchase. It is therefore vital to estimate this work before signing.
Finally, financing is the keystone of the project. Animal feed, energy and veterinary costs are substantial operating expenses. For a young farmer installation, agricultural chambers and banks require solid financial forecasts. It is often advisable to seek support from chartered accountants specialising in agriculture.
On ma-propriete.fr, we have designed a tailor-made tool to make your search easier. Our multi-criteria search engine allows you to target precisely the type of property you are looking for. You can filter listings by sub-category (dairy cattle, goats, sheep, etc.), by location (region, department), by budget, and also by area in hectares.
Are you looking for a small holding for direct sales or a large intensive farm? You will find listings from rural property professionals (specialised agencies, notaries, SAFER) as well as from private sellers. Each listing is detailed, geolocated (depending on the seller’s choice) and rich in photos to give you a first virtual visit.
To make sure you don’t miss any opportunities, we invite you to create e-mail alerts. As soon as a new property matching your criteria (for example: “farm with a milking robot in Brittany”) is published, you are notified instantly. You can then contact the seller directly: a contact form allows you to send a message to the owner or intermediary to request further information or arrange a visit.
Selling a dairy farm requires discretion and efficiency. Ma-propriete.fr offers you unrivalled visibility with a targeted audience. With a large number of monthly visitors passionate about the rural world and agriculture, your listing is seen by serious project holders and potential investors.
We know that confidentiality is often crucial in the agricultural sector in order not to disrupt activity or relations with neighbours. That’s why we let you choose the level of geolocation for your listing: exact address, town, or simply the department.
The user-friendliness of our platform allows you to put your property online quickly: description of the cattle farm, details of the milking parlour, photos of the buildings and animals... In addition, your listing benefits from multi-channel distribution. It can appear in several relevant categories (e.g. Agricultural and House with land) and is shared on our social networks and specialised Facebook groups, thereby increasing your chances of quickly finding a buyer. Our knowledge of the rural market enables us to showcase your farm’s assets to best effect.
Our portal does not simply publish listings; we support you at every stage of your agricultural project.
Whether you want to sell your herd and land or embark on the adventure of milk production, ma-propriete.fr is your ideal partner for success in the rural world.
