The Southdown is a British breed of domestic 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 Ellman of Glynde, near Lewes in East 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 Lewes in East 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 Babraham in Cambridgeshire, 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
^Janet Vorwald Dohner (2001). The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN0300088809.
