babydoll southdown by aprilio on flickr
Babydool Southdown sheep are one of the oldest sheep breeds in England. The originalted on the south down hills of Sussex County, England. These are small hardy sheep that were both a wool and meat sheep.
Babydoll Southdown Ram courtesy of Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep Registry
In 1780 John Ellman,saw the potential of these animals and standardized the Southdown breed. In England, these sheep grew in popularity up until 1908 when there were approximately 367 registered flocks totaling about 110,000 ewes. The first world war brought a halt to the southdowns growth and by the end of WWII the demand for larger cuts of lamb almost made the breed extinct.
Family of Southdowns by Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep Registry
Babydoll Southdowns reache the United states around 1803. They had the same popularity and decline as in England. When the small size of the Babydoll southdown couldn’t satisfy cunsumer demand. They started breeding with larger sheep to gain in size to be able to compete. This caused a divergence in the breed. There are now 2 lines: The southdown and the miniature or babydoll southdown.
babydoll southdown by goldentouchfarm on flickr
As the baby/mini southdowns were still dwindleing away in 1986 Mr. Robert Mock began a search for the sheep with the original blood lines that conformed to the original Southdown of the 1700s. After years of searching a total of 350 miniature sheep were found. Mr. Mock named these Olde English Babydoll Southdowns and a registry was created to bring back this amazing breed.
How cute is this? thanks to aprilio on flickr
There is a great update to this story in 2006 it was established that there were 7832 Old English Babydoll Southdowns in the registry.I also noticed that when the article was written they were still on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. I checked it and as of February 2012 (as far as I know). It is off that list! I think that is totally awesome!!!!!
I couldn't resist this one!!!! I just want to kiss that little face. Thanks to csmarkham of flickr
All information from http://www.oldeenglishbabydollregistry.com/index.html and http://www.nabssar.org/index.html.
They are so cute!!
The Babydoll’s definitely have it going on, on the cuteness scale!
I love to do felted animals with the babydoll southdown wool, my daughter does also…only problem is we can’t seem to be able to find the washed wool in the browns and tans and shades in between. Do you have any information that might lead us to finding some for sale?
It is the best wool I have found for felting projects, it’s so easy and turns out beautiful.
Thank You,
Shirley
If it has to be babydoll southdown you may be washing fleeces. Here is site you can look at. If your not opposed to washing the fiber yourself you can definitely get more for your money. I just did a search for babydoll southdown and this is what I found
http://www.earthsongorchard.co.....rsale.html