Win a cow! | Le Franco Phoney

<Photo of prize draw to win a cow, a piglet or a chicken in Thones, near La Clusaz, French Alps> Although Saint Jean de Sixt is just up the road from the city of Annecy, certain aspects of life are still very rural. Take this raffle ticket, for example. First prize is a cow. Yes, that’s right: you can win a cow!

What’s that? You’re one of these ‘modern’ people who doesn’t have a field full of cows? Well, don’t worry: second prize is a piglet. You have no experience in raising dinner? Maybe third prize is for you — a chicken, and if there’s no room for a chook, fourth prize might be best for you. You can’t go wrong with a dozen eggs — probably from that very chicken.

Now, if you’re a city dweller and thinking about getting more rural, this is a cost effective way of testing the waters of your farming abilities. Simply come to the French Alps, buy as many of these 2€ raffle tickets and wait for your name to be called out. If you happen to win first and second prize, you could not only make the local Reblochon cheese from the cow’s milk, but also the local dish, tartiflette, which requires both Reblochon cheese and bacon (sorry, piglet).

**For those of us who bought tickets without having a clue how to raise a farmyard animal or anywhere for the prize to live, the small print at the bottom explains that non-agriculturists can opt to receive the value of the prize instead. Or we’d just have one massive roast.