Sheepherder Marijke Dirkson from Burgerbrug is in the busiest period of the year: the lambing season. Dirkson already has almost a thousand! When that is over and the grass starts to grow again, she can go out with her herds. Her sheep graze the dunes and other nature areas and participate in nature conservation. Marijke does everything she can to keep the company sustainable and, above all, future-proof under the influence of the nitrogen debate. But the first concern is now the lambs: “Lovely when they are racing through the stable.”
Soft bleating and bleating in Marijke Dirkson’s stable. It is nice and warm, it smells sweet and there is peace. The great peak of lamb deliveries is over. There were sometimes days of a hundred lambs a day. Now about thirty ewes are still on ‘jumping’. Marijke is mainly in the stables at night to keep an eye on the animals. “I think that’s the most wonderful time, then everything is quiet. You can hear the roosters then.”
Grass, grass, grass
With her company Landscape Management Rinnegom, Marijke Dirkson is involved in nature conservation. Her sheep – Kempian heath sheep – graze in dunes, on dikes, in villages and nature reserves. In our program Warriors she explained why: “Too much grass grows in the dunes, which is due to nitrogen deposition. We used to have rabbits that ate all the grass. But the rabbits are disappearing, so the grass just keeps growing. Grass grows much faster than native plants, it really overgrows the whole dune. Then PWN thought, what we need is a flock of sheep to graze it away.”
The herds also graze in the villages. They move very slowly through the village, eating the grass bit by bit. That way you get a better balance between grass and plants that otherwise don’t get a chance to grow. “You don’t lose everything in one fell swoop like mowing. And a large mowing machine scares the hell out of the other mammals. This way, with the sheep, creates much more biodiversity and is much kinder to nature.”
Dirkson is working hard to get her company circular. This means providing the animals with their own food supply as much as possible and getting the residual products such as manure and wool processed within their own company. But it also makes an extra contribution to the surrounding nature. “We are sowing four hectares this year for nature and not for production. It will serve as a resting and feeding place for birds and insects. Only much later in the year will we let the sheep graze. It says plantain, that’s good for the lungs and chicory, which in turn is good for deworming the sheep.”
Unfortunately, according to Marijke, the wool is now also a residual product. “There is no market for it, so it is worth nothing. After shearing the sheep, we have about four thousand kilos of wool left over. We sell a very small part at the door, but we use most of it to make a kind of bedding. The wool is completely digested with straw and microbacteria. We can spread that over the land, so that the land dries out less quickly.”
Seven generations
It is now two years since Landscape Management Rinnegom moved from Egmond to Burgerbrug. That too had everything to do with the nitrogen discussion. Dirkson: “I want to secure the company for at least seven generations. They don’t have to be my children, of course, I can’t force them. Farming the way we do is an important philosophy. I also hope that it will time may be.”
To share the ideas, Dirkson works closely with agricultural education, among others. She also wants to expand that. This year, about fourteen students from Vonk, formerly Clusius College, are taking exams at the company. They have helped bring the lambs into the world in recent weeks and should be able to tell you everything about the company.
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There has been eaten and drunk, so finally some peace in the stable. – NH News
Another week and then it should be done with lambing. There will be about a thousand new young show jumpers in the stables. Dirkson: “The mothers have done well. After a huge peak it was quiet again for a while. Then the next peak came. They felt it fantastic. The ewe lambs largely stay and go to other shepherds in the country. The ram lambs, yes, they are for meat. Only the best rams we keep for breeding.”
To race
Meanwhile, it is a huge racket in the stables. A photo is taken of part of Marijke’s team. “Certainly at feeding time it’s the best to be here. Then the ewes are on the side to eat and then the lambs have plenty of space in the middle. It’s great to see how they race through the box and over each other jump over. Then the peace returns and the four of them lie comfortably with a mother, aunt or cousin. Until they need to drink. Then lamb and ewe know where to find each other immediately.”
In less than a month, the herds of sheep will return to the dunes. Then the lambs are no longer dependent on the milk. The lambs themselves will first ‘practice’ grazing on solar parks. They are not allowed to work in the dunes or other areas until after the summer. “Yeah, it’s almost impossible to cross with lambs,” says Marijke with a hearty laugh.
‘Lamb Cam’
Do you want to see with your own eyes how Marijke Dirkson’s lambs frolic through the stable? That’s possible: NH News is live in the barn today with the ‘lamb cam’ between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
