Southdown

The Southdown breed of sheep was originally bred by John Ellman of Glynd about 200 years ago. His work was continued by Jonas Webb of Babraham in Cambridgeshire who developed the larger animal that we see today.

It was exported to New Zealand and was used in the breeding of the Canterbury Lamb. The Southdown is recognised by the Rare Breeds society as an "at risk" breed, although today it is popular amongst the breeders of smaller sheep. The Southdown Sheep Society http://www.southdownsheepsociety.co.uk/breed.htm promotes this breed.

The sheep has a body weight of about 5 kg, its fleece weight is around 2.25 kg and it has a short staple of about 70 mm with a diameter of 25 micrometres or more.

This sheep was involved with crossbreeding to develop the Hampshire, Oxford Down and Suffolk breeds.