The history of breeding in Limousin has long ignored the Durhamist episode of the French agriculture in the middle of the nineteenth century. However, the archives of the agricultural shows prove that there were successful breeders of Durham in Haute-Vienne. Their first-rate breeding was based on extremely demanding agricultural methods; this fostered a particular spirit of competition among the Haute-Vienne cattle breeders, and this Durhamist model inspired those who developed the local breed. The radical opposition between the two systems marginalized the Durhamist breeding, which was not well suited to the social structures and weak technical means of the Limousine country. Nevertheless, the archives show that there was a link between the breeding of Durhams and the beginning of agricultural development in the countryside. They also allow us to reassess the contribution of the Durhamist experience to the beginning of the Limousine breed’s improvement.