Olde English 'Babydoll' Southdown sheep Olde English 'Babydoll' Southdown sheep The Olde English 'Babydoll' Southdown is a breed of sheep developed in the United States to reflect the original type of Southdown brought over to North America. To meet consumer demand in the early 19th century, farmers in the US and UK began breeding Southdowns that could produce larger cuts of meat. This led to a separate line of sheep that were bigger and leggier, and while flocks of the original type remained, their numbers decreased throughout the 1900s. In 1986, Robert Mock set about searching the United States for sheep that fit this original
Breed standard is a blueprint for an animal fit for the function it was bred - i.e. herding, tracking etc. Breed standards are not scientific documents, and may vary from association to association, and from country to country, even for the same species and breed. There is no one format for breed standards across all species, and breed standards do change and are updated over time. Breed standards cover the "externally observable" qualities of the animal such as "appearance", "movement", and "temperament". The exact format of the breed standard varies, as breed standards are not scientific documents and change as the needs