Between the end of the Old Regime and the Empire, the veterinary school of Alfort, opened in 1766, was one of the most foremost centers of a lengthy program for the improvement of wool-producing animals in France. Although the creation of this institution reflects a desire to combat epizootics and an effort to supply good horses, sheep rapidly became the subject of particular attention. Some veterinarians of Alfort seized upon these preoccupations to become members of the scientific cadres and to nourish the image of a « berger savant. » In the final years of the monarchy, these shepards participated together with Parisian naturalists in a discourse about the regeneration of society. At the turn of the year III, their work was mobilized in the service of a republican project for the stabilization of the country. Beginning with the Consulat, the Ecole d’Alfort was caught up in a dynamic, new and industrial, of the creation of production animals.