For the first time in years back at the place where it traditionally belongs: the Brink. What? Shearing all the sheep of the village of Ruinen. And that’s 450. They all got a shave or haircut. At a rapid pace.
“In the past, all farmers came to shear their sheep on the Brink,” explains chairman Roel van Bezoen of the Ruiner herd. “Now we have one large herd of sheep at the Dwingelderveld visitor center on the Benderse. But that is 3.5 kilometers outside the village. Visitors also come there, of course, but the question is whether they will go back into Ruinen afterwards. In this way we are restoring an old tradition and it will also benefit the catering industry around the Brink.”
So shepherd Michiel Poelenije left the sheepfold for the Brink at six o’clock this morning. “Yes, we have extra work because of the long journey and all the stuff we have to lug here, but this is such a great event and so worth it. If everything goes well, we will do it next year as far as I’m concerned weather.”
The moor sheep were also due for a shave. If you pet them on the neck and pull the wool back a bit, you will see new wool emerging at the wool-hair border. And even with these temperatures it is nice to take off the old coat.
The team of four shearers works quickly. Occasionally, a sheep is clipped by hand as a demonstration, and the audience is also allowed to try it under the guiding hand of a shearer. But most sheep are sheared electrically with a kind of large clipper. But even electric shaving is hard work. With sweat on the forehead, most of the herd has already been shaved before twelve o’clock.
The sheep don’t have to run back. When a group has been shaved, they go back to the Benderse heath with a trailer.