The Große Aue (in its upper reaches known as the Aue and then also the Neuer Mühlenbach or Mühlbach ) is an 88-kilometre-long (55 mi), southwestern, left tributary of the River Weser in northern North Rhine-Westphalia and central Lower Saxony in Germany .
17-729: The Nordbach is a 1.7 kilometre long, left tributary of the Große Aue in East Westphalian Rödinghausen in the district of Herford in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia The Nordbach stream rises at a height of 120 m above sea level (NN) in Schwenningdorf . It discharges into the Große Aue, or Neuer Mühlenbach as it is known in its upper reaches, at a point 82.7 kilometres up
34-656: Is dependent, among other things, on the underlying rock. Sheepwalk is also the name of townlands in County Roscommon , Ireland , and County Fermanagh , Northern Ireland . Unlike factory farming , which entails in its most intensive form entirely trough-feeding, managed or unmanaged pasture is the main food source for ruminants . Pasture feeding dominates livestock farming where the land makes crop sowing or harvesting (or both) difficult, such as in arid or mountainous regions, where types of camel , goat , antelope , yak and other ruminants live which are well suited to
51-492: Is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to meadow which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for animal fodder . Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands , other unenclosed pastoral systems , and land types used by wild animals for grazing or browsing . Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of seeding , irrigation , and
68-466: The Latin pastus , past participle of pascere , "to feed") is land used for grazing . Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland , grazed by domesticated livestock , such as horses , cattle , sheep , or swine . The vegetation of tended pasture, forage , consists mainly of grasses , with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs (non-grass herbaceous plants). Pasture
85-715: The Neuer Mühlbach ("New Mill Stream") after the Neue Mühle ("New Mill") at Schwenningdorf. Further downstream near Fiegenburg it collects a tributary from the west which drains the entire Egge valley [ de ] ( Eggetal ), and is then known as the Mühlbach ("Mill Stream"), powering the mill at Gut Grollage , east of the Egge in front of the main crest of the Wiehen Hills. At Bad Holzhausen it loses
102-551: The banded darter , southern emerald damselfly live here as do birds like the whitethroat and little grebe . Reed buntings , reed warblers and snipe also occur here. The near-natural grassland and wet meadows in the upper reaches of the river near Rödinghausen are under nature conservation protection. The nature reserve has an area of 14.5 hectares (36 acres) and is known as the Aubach Valley Nature Reserve ( NSG Aubachtal ). Particularly valuable are
119-575: The Aue from its mouth. Their confluence is at 91 m above NN and the stream descends a total of 29 metres. The Nordbach fed the first natural open-air pool in the parish of Rödinghausen. Its basin is used as a fish pond today. Gro%C3%9Fe Aue The Große Aue rises at a height of 130 m above sea level (NN) as the Aue on the southern side of the Wiehen Hills in
136-488: The area. When the first cut of the spade for the renaturalisation took place in 1989 this project was unique in North Rhine-Westphalia. The monotonous river bed and riverside strips of land up to 300 m wide were turned into near-natural pastureland again. About 200 hectares (490 acres) of flood plain was created. The artificial water channel was largely retained, but parallel to it a new river course
153-410: The more hostile terrain and very rarely factory-farmed. In more humid regions, pasture grazing is managed across a large global area for free range and organic farming . Certain types of pasture suit the diet, evolution and metabolism of particular animals, and their fertilising and tending of the land may over generations result in the pasture combined with the ruminants in question being integral to
170-755: The name Mühlenbach . Here the Große Aue reaches the North German Plain . At 10.6 kilometres it passes under the Mittelland Canal . On the western edge of Espelkamp (65 kilometres) in the river meadows on the far side of the dyke, two small lakes have been laid out: the Großer Auesee and the See am Kleihügel . The river continues north, passing Rahden to the west, to Preußisch Ströhen (northernmost village in Rahden borough), here it picks up
187-738: The rich wet meadows and pastures with their sedges and reed beds . Its tributaries include the Flöthe and the Kleine Aue ("Little Aue"), that join it from the east, and the Großer Dieckfluss , which flows westwards, and merges into the Großer Aue at Preußisch Ströhen, at 52°29′59″N 8°39′02″E / 52.499722°N 8.650556°E / 52.499722; 8.650556 . L = left-hand, R = right-hand tributaries looking downstream Pastureland Pasture (from
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#1732801645695204-720: The southern part of the Sulingen Gap and is then forced south by the geest hills of the Steyerberg Forest. Beyond Steyerberg it turns towards the northeast and reaches after a few kilometres the Weser Depression , on whose western edge it flows through Liebenau , in order five kilometres later near Binnen , halfway to Nienburg , discharging into the River Weser. Its total length is about 85 kilometres (53 mi). After everything had been done in
221-426: The use of fertilizers , while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like controlled burning and regulated intensity of grazing. Soil type, minimum annual temperature , and rainfall are important factors in pasture management. Sheepwalk is an area of grassland where sheep can roam freely. The productivity of sheepwalk is measured by the number of sheep per area. This
238-597: The village of Dono in the parish of Rödinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia . After one and a half kilometres it turns north and from its confluence with the Nordbach, which joins it from the west at Schwenningdorf , is known as the Große Aue . It crosses a water gap in the Wiehen Hills, losing 40 metres of height and powering two mills, so that in the section through the Wiehen crest it has been named
255-471: The waters of the Großer Dieckfluss , before crossing the border into Lower Saxony. Here the valley is part of the ' bog belt' ( Moorgürtel ). Between kilometres 62.8 and 58.8 the Großer Aue flows in two parallel channels, of which one has been straightened, the other is the first part of a renaturalised route. Through Wagenfeld - Ströhen the Großer Aue runs to Barenburg . It flows eastwards through
272-578: The years after the Second World War to turn the Große Aue into a canal-like river and thereby to create a flood-free river channel, initiatives during the 1980s in the Minden-Lübbecke region led to the decision to renaturalise the landscape. The intent was to enable the area, which had lost many of its native plant and animal species, to recover. A habitat was to be created to support riparian woods, hedges and plants and animals typical of
289-499: Was laid out which ran along the old route in several places. Today it is clear that a rich animal and plant world has been created without the risk of major flooding. A valuable habitat has been generated on the Große Aue for plants and animals typical of water meadows . In the wet biotopes and in the standing and flowing waters there are grass rushes , water violets and blister sedges as well as short-winged coneheads and large marsh grasshoppers . Threatened dragonflies, such as
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