Babydoll Southdown

The Southdown comes from the South Downs of Sussex in England and is one of the oldest of the Down breeds. It reached the United States in the 1800s and was a common farm sheep here into the early 1900s, at roughly the size the Babydoll is today.

Then the market changed. By the 1960s buyers wanted a bigger carcass, and breeders crossed the small Southdowns to larger sheep to get one. The modern American Southdown is the result, and the original small type very nearly disappeared in the process.

What survived was gathered up again around 1990 from the few remaining small flocks and given a separate name, Olde English Babydoll Southdown, to keep it distinct from the larger modern Southdown. The North American Babydoll Southdown Sheep Association and Registry incorporated as a non-profit on June 10, 2003.

Height is the defining measurement and the registries police it. NABSSAR registers sheep of 18 to 24 inches at the shoulder, having tightened its standard in 2025 from an older range that reached 26 inches.

The breed is polled. Solid horns or scurs of an inch or more are a disqualification.

The fleece is dense and fine, 24 to 28 microns with a springy crimp, in off-white or black. Under the NABSSAR standard a bright white fleece is a disqualification, and so is spotting.

The registry describes the breed as docile, and the size does the rest. A 20-inch sheep is one a person can catch, turn and treat without a race or a second pair of hands, which is why these turn up in 4-H projects and on small acreages.

Vineyards and orchards are the serious commercial use. A Babydoll is short and heavy-bodied, and unlike a lighter, leggier sheep it will not rear onto its hind legs to strip vines or low branches, so it can graze between the rows through the growing season. The small hooves break the soil surface without compacting it.

Beyond that they are kept for fleece, for meat in a small way, and as pets. The fleece is fine enough to sell to handspinners.

Standard small-flock sheep management, with one caution that follows from the wool. The fleece is dense and grows over the forehead, so shear on schedule and watch for wool blindness.

Do not let the pet framing lower the standard of care. They still need shearing, hoof trimming, a worm control plan and a shelter.

Find out which registry the animal is in before you agree a price. There are several competing Babydoll registries in North America and they do not share a standard. The most consequential difference is color: NABSSAR does not register spotted sheep or spot carriers, while some of the others accept spotted genetics. A lamb that is registerable with one body may not be with another, and a spot carrier can produce a lamb you cannot register even though both parents look correct.

Ask for the height of the parents as well as the lamb. Height is heritable, it is what the standard turns on, and a lamb under a year has not finished growing.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.