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In the 19th century, the importance of cattle-breeding in the farming economy of the Maine-et-Loire district was highly uneven. In the hedgerow (bocage) country to the west, cattle density was high, and the raising and fattening of cattle was a core activity among sharecroppers, while to the east, both the density of cattle and its economic role were less significant, especially in the Saumur area. As the century went by, the development of fodder plants and the transformation of crop rotation allowed for a higher number of cattle heads and improved stock quality. Meanwhile, horses were increasingly used for agricultural work, while the fattening of oxen and cows spread considerably. However, cattle-breeding increased mostly in areas where its past role had already been significant, and the basic contrasts were not erased.