The Southdown is a small, dual-purpose British sheep, raised primarily for meat.

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 British 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.

Baby Doll breeders claim that their sheep are closer to the old, traditional, British Southdown than are the commercial Southdown sheep being grown today.