In response to the decreasing number of dairy farms and associated workers, municipalities of the Saint-Flour area (Cantal, France) commissioned a study which aimed to better understand and describe the structures and common strategies to putatively robust dairy farms. Fifteen farms were selected and surveyed for their putative robustness. Four main successful strategies associated with improved robustness towards economic, social and environmental risks were highlighted: i) to prioritize forage autonomy through a maximization of grass use and parsimonious concentrate feeding and purchase, ii) to enhance milk paid in link with its intrinsic quality (increases of milk solids contents…) and/or through the milk delivery to dairy plants oriented to high value-added markets, iii) to diversify the income sources with enhancement of the meat byproduct from the dairy herd and/or with the introduction of a suckling cow/ewe herd, or a farmhouse cheese plant, and iv) to reduce structural expenses by subcontracting tasks or by cooperative use of agricultural equipment and/or by very limited investments in equipment and building. Based on this assessment, a panel of proposals will be proposed to stakeholders and decision makers in order to promote those successful strategies via extension programs.