Babydoll Sheep

Pippy and Bronte

On our farm, we have been fortunate enough to raise Olde English 'Babydoll' Southdown sheep. The respect, love, and wonder we feel for this rare breed is nearly evangelical in its zeal.

The Babydolls are so named in order to demarcate this ancient miniature breed from its much larger and modern Southdown counterpart. These diminutive sheep stand 24 inches high or less at the shoulder; most adults are in the 18 to 22 inch range. As expected from such a short stature, they have squat bodies which are covered in soft dense wool. The sheep are commonly white in colour but sometimes a spotted lamb is born and even less common is the birth of a solid brown or black lamb.

The Babydoll sheep have proven their mettle during hundreds of years of evolution. They are very healthy and hardy animals, requiring only a minimum amount of maintenance. They are resistant to foot rot and intestinal parasites. The ewes are natural and doting moms. They birth with ease and twins are very common. These sheep are naturally polled (no horns), have a strong flocking instinct, flourish on small plots of land, and are great foragers. If kept on poor land, other sheep breeds would quickly become extremely thin and bony. Not the Babydolls: somehow they always seem to find something to keep them plump! As a result, they thrive on small amounts of good quality hay.

Sierra

These friendly little cherubs are little 'homebodies'. They won't test fences, but if they find a hole in the fence and timidly venture out, they stay close by and will come - nay, run! - when called... and usually with a 'baaahhhhh...!' of joy. When we weed our gardens, we let the little gaffers out of their paddocks to run amok (such as that is for the Babydolls). They stay close to us and if they start to find better grass too far away, we give them a call and they come running back as fast as their little legs can carry them.

These fantastic sheep with their smiley faces have a wonderful personality and they are very docile. Even the rams are cuddle-monsters! A pair of wethers (neutered rams) makes wonderful grass-mowing pets. With proper care they will delight their owners for more than a decade.