Southdown sheep
 At the Great Yorkshire Show in 2011 | |
| Conservation status | |
|---|---|
| Other names | South Down |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Distribution | international |
| Standard | Southdown Sheep Society |
| Traits | |
| Weight | |
| Height | |
| Wool colour | white |
| Face colour | formerly mouse-grey, now white[5]: 460 |
| Horn status | polled[5]: 460 |
| |
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 production 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]
History
[edit]
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
The Southdown has contributed to the development of several other breeds, among them the other Down breeds:
- the Dorset Down, with local polled sheep and Hampshire Down, in south-west England in the later nineteenth century[6]: 800
- the Hampshire Down, with Berkshire Nott and Wiltshire Horn, in Berkshire in the 1830s[6]: 758
- the Oxford Down, with Cotswold and Hampshire Down, in Oxfordshire in the first half of the nineteenth century[6]: 878
- the Ryeland, with local Hereford sheep, Dishley Leicester and other Down sheep, in Herefordshire in the nineteenth century[6]: 901
- the Shropshire, with local breeds of Shropshire and Staffordshire including the Cannock Chase, the Longmynd and the Morfe Common, in the early nineteenth century.[6]: 910
- the Suffolk, with Norfolk Horn, in Suffolk in the early nineteenth century; originally known as the Southdown-Norfolk.[6]: 923
Characteristics
[edit]
The Southdown is a small sheep, the smallest both of the Down breed group and of the United Kingdom. Ewes stand about 60 cm, with weights in the range 59–68 kg, rams average 67 cm in height and weigh from 78 to 90 kg; maximum weights in the USA are higher, at 81 kg and 104 kg respectively.[6]: 919 The fleece is white; the face was formerly bare of wool and dusky grey in colour, but is now woolly and white.[5]: 460
Use
[edit]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] In the twenty-first century it is used principally as a terminal sire, in the expectation of easy delivery of a well-conformed and fast-growing lamb.[6]: 919 It became the principal sire used in the production of Canterbury lamb in New Zealand.[11]: 59
Fleece weights (greasy) are about 2–3.5 kg for ewes, 3.5–5.5 kg for rams; clean wool yield is 40–55%.[6]: 919 Staple length is some 50–60 mm, and fibre diameter about 23–25 μm (equivalent to a Bradford count of 58/60s).[7]: 15
The sheep may be used for vegetation management in vineyards, where they can reach weeds on the ground but not the grapes on the vines.[12]
References
[edit]
- ^ Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
- ^ a b c d Breed data sheet: Southdown / United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2021.
- ^ a b Watchlist 2021–22. Kenilworth, Warwickshire: Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 12 April 2021.
- ^ a b Description & breed characteristics. The Southdown Sheep Society. Archived 22 September 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Michael Lawson Ryder (2007 [1983]). Sheep and Man. London: Gerald Duckworth & Company. ISBN 9780715636473.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
- ^ a b c d David Cottle (2010). International Sheep and Wool Handbook. Nottigham: Nottingham University Press. ISBN 9781904761860.
- ^ G.L. Tomes, D.E. Robertson, R.J. Lightfoot (editors) (1979). Sheep Breeding. London: Butterworths. ISBN 9780408106337.
- ^ Janet Vorwald Dohner (2001). The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300088809.
- ^ Paul Wakeham-Dawson (2002). The Remoulding and Revival of the Southdown Sheep. The Ark. 30 (Summer 2002): 68–70. Kenilworth, Warwickshire: Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived 23 September 2006.
- ^ Susannah Robin Parkin (2015). British Sheep Breeds. Oxford: Shire Publications. ISBN 9780747814481.
- ^ Peter Fimrite (1 April 2011). Napa sheep slaughter solved: Culprits were cougars. San Francisco Chronicle. Archived 5 April 2011.