At the Great Yorkshire Show in 2011
| |
| Conservation status |
|
|---|---|
| Other names | South Down |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Distribution | international |
| Traits | |
| Weight |
Female:
59–68 kg[4] |
| Height |
Female:
60 cm[2] |
| Wool colour | white |
| Face colour | mouse-grey[5]: 482 |
| Horn status | polled[5]: 482 |
|
| |
The Southdown is a British breedofdomestic sheep,[6]: 918 [2] the smallest of the British breeds.[7]: 23 It is a shortwool breed, and the basis of the whole Down group of breeds. It was originally bred by John EllmanofGlynde, near LewesinEast Sussex, in about 1800.[7]: 23 It has been exported to many countries; it has been of particular importance in New Zealand, where it was used in the breeding of Canterbury lamb. In the twenty-first century it is kept principally as a terminal sire.[8]: 282
It is listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust among the UK native breeds; it was formerly listed as "priority" or "at risk".[3]
From Mediaeval times, small grey-faced polled sheep were kept on the chalk uplands of the South Downs of the counties of Kent and Sussex in south-east England.[5]: 492 From about 1780 John Ellman, of Glynde, near LewesinEast Sussex, began selectively breeding them to improve their productive qualities;[7]: 23 there are no records of how this breeding was carried out.[5]: 492 By the end of the century the breed had become well known, its reputation rivalling that of the Dishley Leicester bred by Robert Bakewell.[9]: 125 In the nineteenth century further selective breeding was carried out by Jonas Webb, of BabrahaminCambridgeshire, with such success that the breed was at times known as the Cambridgeshire.[5]: 492
This sheep was involved with crossbreeding to develop other breeds:
The Southdown was traditionally reared for meat and wool. During the day the sheep pastured freely on the downs, and at night they were close-folded in the arable fields of the farmers, where they helped to increase soil fertility.[10]
Fleece weights (greasy) are about 2–3.5 kg for ewes, 3.5–5.5 kg for rams. Staple length is some 50–60 mm, and fibre diameter about 23–25 μm (equivalent to a Bradford count of 58/60s).[7]: 15
InCalifornia and New Zealand, they are placed in vineyards to graze weeds because they are too short to reach the grapes on the vines.[11]
