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
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