In the wood pasture

1 - The Bentheim Forest is in the west of Lower Saxony, near Bentheim Castle. It covers an area of 1,600 hectares, making it one of the largest forest areas in northwestern Germany.2 - This forest has an area that takes you back to a distant past. From spring to autumn, cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, geese, and horses used to be driven into the forest to forage. Since they had to be watched over so they wouldn’t get lost, this type of forest is also called a wood pasture. The children were often responsible for herding them.

3 - When the oaks dropped their acorns, the pigs especially had a feast. Goats found food in bushes and shrubs, as well as among the shoots of young trees.4 - Dried leaves were used to make leaf hay, which fed horses and cattle. The hornbeams were also pruned so they would sprout again. This practice is called pollarding.

5 - This use of the forest naturally had particular effects. Young trees could not grow back, or they only grew to a small size because they were grazed or pollarded. Over time, clearings appeared in the forest, which the animals then used as pasture. 6 - At the end of the 19th century, this form of forest use was discontinued. Trees and shrubs reclaimed the clearings, where traces of the former grazing can still be clearly seen.

7 - The Nordhorn Zoo has restored a small part of the Bentheim Forest to wooded pasture. To do this, they cleared space around the oak trees and have also started pollarding the hornbeams again. An area of 26 ha was fenced off. Domestic animals now graze here once again. A cultural landscape is taking shape, of the kind that was typical of our forests for centuries.8 - This also creates a habitat for other animals. Many beetle species find food in old and dead trees and in animal dung. This is an ideal habitat for the increasingly rare hermit beetle, or Eremit, as well as for some bat species.

9 - Above all, this forest is home to Galloway cattle, Bentheim sheep and Dutch Landrace goats. They don’t mind visitors. You can get to know them on a walk through the forest or join a guided tour.