Bentheimer Landschaf

The Bentheim landscapes is a robust, unpretentious house sheep breed and is considered the largest German heath sheep breed.

The Bentheim landscapes

The breed is not related to the moorland, but emerged at the same time in the region Bentheim / Emsland / Drenthe by crossing Dutch and German heath sheep. It is named after the county of Bentheim in the southwestern Lower Saxony. Very closely related is the Bentheim landscapes with the Schoonebeker sheep from the Netherlands, which is a sister race and shares the history of the country Bentheim sheep. The first mention of the Bentheim sheep 1864.

The Bentheim sheep country reaches a height at the withers by up to 75 cm. Blocks are 90 to 110 kg, ewes up to 75 kg. The animals have white wool, around the eyes and on the feet, there are dark places.

The breed of sheep is under threat, according to the Red List of the Society for the Conservation of Old and Endangered Livestock Breeds (GEH ) extinction. In the 1970s, only three breeders from Emsland held a total of 50 Bentheim in the studbook.

In Germany there were in 2011 still about 2364 female and 168 male pedigree animals that are bred in Lower Saxony, in the county of Bentheim, Emsland and the space Diepholz as well as in many other states with a focus on NRW and Brandenburg. According to the Red List of the Society for the Conservation of Old and Endangered Livestock Breeds and a hazard ratio of TVC 1008 the breed is therefore listed under Category II ( high risk ).

The Bentheim sheep country was proclaimed in 2005, the Pet of the Year. Particularly suitable is the race for the landscape and for the maintenance of sand and heathland. In Nordhorn Zoo and Wildlife Park in the Black Mountains of Bentheim landscapes is obtained as an endangered regional pet breed and bred.

Every year on the last Saturday in July in Uelsen in the county of Bentheim instead an elite auction. This auction is since 1995 the traditional marketing channel for bucks racial Bentheim landscapes and found in 2009, for the 15th time in Uelsen at the riding hall instead. Breeders participate from the other breeding areas of Schleswig -Holstein, Hanover, North Rhine -Westphalia, Hesse and Saarland in the nationwide elite auction. By 1995, the sale had taken place in Emsland.