Southdown sheep Southdown sheep The Southdown is a small, dual-purpose English sheep, raised primarily for meat. The Southdown breed was originally bred by John Ellman of Glynde, near Lewes, East Sussex, about 200 years ago. His work was continued by Jonas Webb of Babraham in Cambridgeshire, who developed the larger animal of today. It was exported to New Zealand and was used in the breeding of the Canterbury lamb. This sheep was involved with crossbreeding to develop other breeds: The Southdown in Britain is recognised by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as a native breed, although today it is popular amongst the
Breed standard of the members of the organization which authors them change. In general, a breed standard may include history of the breed, a narrative description of the breed, and details of the ideal externally observable structure and behavior for the breed. Certain deviations from the standard are considered "faults". A large degree of deviation from the breed standard, an excess of faults, or certain defined major faults, may indicate that the animal should not be bred, although its fitness for other uses may not be impeded by the faults. An animal that closely matches (conforms to) the breed standard for its