Drents heather sheep

History of the Drents heather sheep

The Drents heather sheep is the oldest sheep race of the main land of Europe. It is found in Drente since 4000 BC, probably emigrants have brought it along from France. The Drents heather sheep is the last relic of sheep farming as it took place about 6000 years ago in the Netherlands. The Drents heather sheep is, in contrast to the more refined sheep races, able to survive on poor heather grounds. In previous century’s, heather sheep provided a useful contribution in improving the farming land. During daytime the flock was wandering, guided by the shepherd and his dog, over the heather grounds. At night the sheep were locked up in the sheep pen. The manure out of the pen was mixed with heather turf, this mixture was used to manure the farming land. At that time agriculture would have been impossible without the manure from those sheep. When fertilizer became available, sheep manure became unnecessary. Heather fields were cultivated and the heather sheep were no longer needed. Because of the fact that the heather sheep isn’t very productive, there no longer was a reason to keep them. For this reason most of the old type Drentse heather sheep have disappeared. On poor ground the Schoonebeeker ram is more often used. By this reason a new mixed breed developed, the so called new type Drents heather sheep. This sheep has the typical curved nose of the Schoonebeeker and often the same colours in it’s wool. The horns of the rams are slightly degenerated, they have a narrower spiral and grow closer to the cheeks of the sheep. Most of the Drents heather sheep around are of this new type.


Present function of the Drents heather sheep

One function the Drents heather sheep always had is preserved namely, conservation of heather area’s. When a heather area isn’t grazed it will turn into fields of grass or into forest. For this reason the heather sheep are often used to graze the heather fields. Many of the herds that are kept to do so are funded by public funds.

Characteristics of the Drents heather sheep

The rare old type Drents heather sheep can be identified by his straight nose line. The forehead can be raised a little, but the nose, mostly, keeps straight. On his head the old type has got matt hair, glossy hair is less desirable. Between the horns you can often see a woolly forelock. The legs are tendril. The tail has a thick layer of wool and must at least reach until the heel. The wool exists of three kinds of fibres, the short fine under wool, the long hairy fibres and the such called kemp (=fat hollow fibre). The yield of the wool is 1 – 2 kg per animal. The colour of the fur is white till cream, brown or black. The colour of the hair on the head and legs can vary from white, light brown to black. Not all colour patterns are desirable, like a sharp contrast on the head in the form of shields, glasses or dark spots in the wool. With black animals some white is allowed on the snout, crown, tail collar or legs. Not all ewes have horns. When they do have horns, they can be bigger and are mostly slanting down to the back end, aiming to the outside, and sometimes bent. The rams always have horns. The horns must be free of the head and are spirally shaped. By this the ears get enough space. The old type Drents heather sheep mostly has one lamb, but when feeding is good there can be twins. Lambing comes easy and the care of the ewe is good.