Southdown sheep smaller scale breeders of sheep. It has been split into two sub-breeds. The Southdown raised by commercial growers today, is larger than the "traditional" Southdown of years past. North American Southdowns are also taller than their English counterparts. The original blood line of the English Southdowns are the "Baby Doll" Southdowns in the US. They have been selected specifically for their smaller size of the original blood lines and a focus on wool and hobby breeding rather than commercial meat production. In California and New Zealand, they are placed in vineyards to graze weeds because they are too short to
Southdown sheep kohl rabi and other forage crops, the folding system took off, increasing in parallel with expanding human population. The system reached its zenith from about 1845 to 1880. The 20th century brought the establishment of pedigree recording. By 1911, 359 registered Southdown flocks contained some 114,495 breeding ewes throughout Britain. Much remained the same until the First World War, when the Southdown flocks declined with some rapidity, as shepherds and farm workers went off to war. By 1922, the 359 pedigree flocks had shrunk to 245. From then until 1939, the registered Southdown flocks numbered around 200. Folded flocks were