The Southdown is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of domestic sheep, the smallest of the British breeds. It is a shortwool breed, and the basis of the whole Down group of breeds. It was originally bred by John Ellman of

Glynde Glynde is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, United Kingdom. It is located two miles (5 km) east of Lewes.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

, near

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, in about 1800. 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 Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. In the twenty-first century it is kept principally as a

terminal sire Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...

. It is listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust among the UK native breeds; it was formerly listed as "priority" or "at risk".

History

From

Mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

times, small grey-faced polled sheep were kept on the chalk uplands of the South Downs of the counties of Kent and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in south-east England. From about 1780 John Ellman, of

, near

, began

selectively breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

them to improve their productive qualities; there are no records of how this breeding was carried out. By the end of the century the breed had become well known, its reputation rivalling that of the

Dishley Leicester The Leicester Longwool is an English breed of sheep. Alternative names for the breed include: Leicester, Bakewell Leicester, Dishley Leicester, English Leicester, Improved Leicester and New Leicester. It was originally developed by 18th-century ...

bred by Robert Bakewell. In the nineteenth century further selective breeding was carried out by

Jonas Webb Jonas Webb (10 November 1796 – 10 November 1862) was an English farmer and stock breeder who was responsible for developing the Southdown breed of sheep into its modern form. Webb was born in Great Thurlow in Suffolk but began farming in ...

, of Babraham in Cambridgeshire, with such success that the breed was at times known as the Cambridgeshire. This sheep was involved with crossbreeding to develop other breeds: *with the

Wiltshire Horn The Wiltshire Horn is a breed of domestic sheep originally from Wiltshire in southern England raised for meat. The breed is unusual among native British breeds, for it has the unusual feature of moulting its short wool and hair coat naturall ...

and the Berkshire Nott, the Hampshire, *via the Hampshire and the

Cotswold sheep The Cotswold is a British breed of domestic sheep. It originates in, and is named for, the Cotswold hills of the southern midlands of England. It is a large long-woollen sheep, and is kept as a dual-purpose breed, providing both meat and woo ...

, the

Oxford Down The Oxford Down is a British breed of domestic sheep. It was developed in the 1830s by cross-breeding of Hampshire Down and Southdown ewes with Cotswold rams. It is reared primarily for meat. History The Oxford Down developed from abo ...

*with the

Norfolk Horn The Norfolk Horn (also known as Blackface Norfolk Horned, Norfolk Horned, Old Norfolk or Old Norfolk Horned) is one of the British black-faced sheep breeds. It differs from other black-faced breeds, which are mainly found in high-rainfall, upland ...

, the

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

Characteristics

Use

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. Fleece weights (greasy) are about for ewes, for rams. Staple length is some , and fibre diameter about (equivalent to a

Bradford count The Bradford system (also known as the English Worsted Yarn Count System or spinning count or Bradford count) is a way to assess the fineness of wool. To measure the fineness of sheep wool fibre before microscopes and lasers were used, English w ...

of 58/60s). In California and New Zealand, they are placed in vineyards to graze weeds because they are too short to reach the grapes on the vines.Fimrite, P
Napa sheep slaughter solved: Culprits were cougars.
'' San Francisco Chronicle'' 1 April 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.

References

{{British livestock, R.1 Sheep breeds Sheep breeds originating in England