Buron

The buron is a building hones some that one finds in the pastures that the stockbreeders of valley had and exploited in a seasonal way in the mountains of the Cantal, of the Lozere and of the Monts Gilds, like on the plates of the Aubrac in the Aveyron with. Will burons served to place the Vacher S dealing of the herds and manufacture as the Fromage (the salers, the Saint-nectaire) at the time of the Estive (of mid-May at mid-October).

Origin of the word

The buron term is attested at the beginning of the 18th century in a letter of Trudaine, then intendant of Auvergne, to indicate huts under ground, partly covered with grass where one makes cheese of country the Cantal and which are built with few expenses. The owners of the pastures of mountain find an advantage to change place from time to time their will burons, thus they are named, in the interest of the manures . Thereafter, it indicates buildings built, with chimney and roof of lause S, built by teams of masons and carpenters at the 19th century for the account of large-scale farmer or owners urban. Its application to all the buildings of mountain pasture of the solid masses of Auvergne is a convenience of geographers, there were other names, vernacular, employed by the peasants.

According to Marcel Lachiver:
- fogal or fougal : name sometimes given to the huts which served as will burons in the mountains of the Massif Central because they comprised a hearth;
- mazuc / masuc or masut / mazut : name in Aubrac of huts built with strong poles of beeches covered with lumps of earth or grass, hut where one prepared butter and cheese.
The author adds that buron would be current only since the years 1650.

According to Maurice Robert, the terms will tra , chabano , mazuc indicate the same thing as buron .

In Drill, the term employed was jas ; a grouping of jas formed a jassery .

The root bur gave as old French () the word buiron (m) meaning “cants”.

Structure

At the 19th century the buron increases: it consists of three parts:

on the floor, the part where the buronniers sleep and where the hay is garnered,
at the ground floor, the part where the Tomme is manufactured, still fresh cheese who allows to prepare the Aligot,
the cellar, in which the cheeses are refined (called cantal in the Cantal and laguiole in Aveyron and Lozere).

It is a solid construction, sometimes partly buried, made stone walls. The roof is in Chaume for oldest, and more generally in roofing stone.

Previously, the buron was generally more summary, simple built cutting off or rectangular building with buried half, separated into two by a cross wall. A single door, spared in the pinion wall when it faces the valley, makes it possible to enter the first parts where the cheese is manufactured, then in the “vault” which is used to preserve and to make mature the new cheese parts (“fourmes”). No the chimney for the fire which is done outside, nor of room for the shepherds, but always a good source in the vicinity.

Operation

The mountain pasture with the buron was ensured by four buronniers or more according to the size of will burons:

the roul , in general a teenager being used as odd-job man,
the bédelier , charged to deal with calves,
the pastre , charged to manufacture divides into volumes it fresh which will give the cheese (cantal or laguiole),
the cantalès , owner of the buron.

Let us add, nothing to forget:

the dog , to bring back the cows and to keep them.

Twice a day, the morning very early and in end of the afternoon, the draft of the cows provided the milk, transported to the buron in the Gerle.

Milk was then put at to curdle during 1 hour with Présure. The curd thus obtained was cut out using a “frénial” (term of the Cantal) or atrassadou (term of Lozere and Aveyron) or section-curd, then separated from the small-milk. The curd was then in a hurry under the “catseuse one” (large press out of wooden) and became divides into volumes it. This tome cheese was then salted, émiettée using the “milling machine” then transvased in a mould out of wooden or aluminum in which it was again in a hurry.

Lastly, the fourme thus obtained was stored in the cellar of the buron (at a temperature from approximately 10 °C) for the Affinage which lasts 45 days in several months (10 months in general and 18 months to the maximum).

History

Will burons started to be built out of stones built with the mortar in second half of the 18th century. Previously, they were still out of dry stones: the walls were capped with a vault covered either with ground and stone slabs, or of turfs, or still of a covered frame of mounds. Before the recourse to dry stone masonry, the mazuc was even more precarious: it consisted of two or three parts dug in the ground with a cover in turfs. This kind of mazuc was of short duration and one often changed some as testify some the many funnels (or trass , i.e. “hollow”) visible in the pastures.

Decline

In the years 1945-1950, a thousand of will burons was still in activity (264 will burons on Aubrac) in what was still mountains with cheese. In the Years 1960, their number fell to approximately 60 (51 on Aubrac in 1964) following the modernization of agriculture. The two last will burons of Aubrac (Camejane in Aveyron and Théron in Lozere) were closed on October 13rd, 2002, the setting with the European standards requiring of the too heavy investments.

Will burons were abandoned because of several factors: demographic policy of reduction of the farming population and rural, lowers profitability of the extensive agriculture, standardization of the lifestyles, replacement of Community and family solidarity by the social right of the employees. The painfulness of the work conditions (the draft of the cows under the rain, wind, snow sometimes, the absence of comfort and decent housing) rejected the young people, who preferred to launch out towards the capital to the attack of an administrative employment.

Only one buron was given in activity in 2005. It is about the buron of Puech of the Treillised vineyard in Lozere (on the road of Nasbinals to the collar of Bonnecombe), of which the owner, Mr. Serres, invested in a laboratory of manufacture of cheese in conformity with the European standards. Admittedly, the tiling and aluminum made their appearance, giving a futuristic aspect to the buron, but the draft is always carried out with the hand with buckets out of wooden ( farrats ) and milk is poured in a gerle out of wood. The cheese produced by this buron (from May 25th to October 13rd) is of excellent quality. The cheese-making production of will burons in 1946 (700 tons per annum) is today assured by the co-operative Jeune Mountain Laguiole in Aveyron. This production does not cease growing, showing thus that the initial economic function of will burons is well far from disappearing.

Modern use

Little of will burons are still used nowadays. One can consider that only 30 of them could keep or find an economic activity. Some were transformed while restoring, into lodging of stage or museum.

The Association of Safeguard of Burons of the Cantal tries to safeguard this inheritance and undertook several restorations. However, the great majority of will burons fall in ruin and could not be saved, in particular because these operations are extremely expensive. Moreover, the real estate market of will burons is quasi-no one. Indeed, the buron is often located in the middle of the mountain, without associated ground, convenient access nor modern comfort (electricity, running water), which discourages the near total of the potential purchasers.

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