“Exactly five months minus five days after Animal Day. That was the intention, because the ram was there then,” beams shepherd Michiel Poelenije of the Sheep Herd Ruinen as he stares at the newborn lamb.
“We expect around four hundred lambs in the next three and a half weeks.” So the first was welcomed this morning.
A sheep normally survives well during childbirth, says Poelenije. “The Drenthe Heath sheep is a fairly natural breed, so most deliveries go without any problems. But the cage is quite full and they have to bond well with the ewe. So we put them in the maternity cage for a day or two and then everything will be fine. “
The born lambs are then placed in group pens. Finally everything comes together again in mid-April. “We have to put them in groups with some care, but they also grow very quickly. This lamb will be big again in three to four weeks.”
The sheep herd in Ruinen first keeps the four hundred lambs themselves, because they are needed for grazing. “We graze here in the field with all the lambs until the summer. In the autumn, the ram lambs are removed to prevent inbreeding. We can use the ewe lambs again as a replacement for the older sheep.”
The birth is tightly planned. We always add the ram on Animal Day, we think that’s funny. This lamb has timed its arrival perfectly. The gestation period is exactly five months minus five days and that is when he was born. So by the book.”
The ewe lamb has no name and Poelenije doesn’t give her one either. “That’s not possible, I would have to come up with hundreds of new names every year.”