Welcome to

Southdown Sheep Society

On our site you can find information relating to the breed, latest news, details of shows and sales, stock for sale and information from Breeders’ Groups around the regions.

Our breed can meet your needs - whether you are looking for a terminal sire to produce quick maturing lambs, or a few Southdown sheep on a few acres.

The Society hopes this website offers you a starting point, please get in touch with the Southdown Office for further information.

Entries are now open for the Melton Native Breeds National Show and Sale – 13th and 14th September 2024
Download Sale Catalogue

Flock Competition
A reminder that the closing date for the Flock Competition is September 1st 2024

Entry Form

rules

Final Year Vet Med student seeking responses to her research project
“Investigating the off-licence indications and dosages of Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs currently being used to medicate British sheep”. Download full details here

Southdown Sheep Society Field Day
Southdown Sheep Society Field Day on 5th October 2024 at the Village Hall in the village of Russells Water, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 6ES.
Book your place

The Southdown Sheep Society Annual General Meeting
The Southdown Sheep Society Annual General Meeting takes place on October 5th 2024 at 11.00am
View documents

The Spring 2024 Newsletter available to download. Please click here to view.

2023 Show results

Latest News

Featured

Aug 6, 2024

Southdowns hit 2000gns at Worcester

Aug 6, 2024

It was a record-breaking day at the Southdown Sheep Society’s Premier Sale, Worcester, on Saturday (3rd August) when Chaileybrook His Nibs 24/02116 topped the sale and set a new breed ram lamb record at 2000gns.

Aug 6, 2024

May 7, 2024

Successful first Young Breeders Group event

May 7, 2024

The fledgling Southdown Young Breeders Group staged its first event at the end of October, with young people from across the midlands and southern England gathering in Lincolnshire to learn the art of preparing Southdowns for show and sale and also the fundamentals of judging sheep.

May 7, 2024

About the Southdown Sheep Society

About

Welcome to the website of the Southdown Sheep Society, the Society represents the interests of Southdown breeders in the UK and provides registration and marketing services to breeders across the country. The Southdown is the oldest of the terminal sire breeds in the UK and as the name suggests originates from the native sheep which have roamed the South Downs in the South of England for many hundreds of years.

Developed by foresighted flockmasters into a fixed type in the eighteenth century, the breed has been responsible for the development of many of the native terminal sire breeds, including the Suffolk and the Hampshire Down and in France the Charollais. Today the breed can be found in the UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and America and many other countries across the globe where its ability to produce high quality lamb has led to it being recognised as the king among terminal sires.

In the UK the breed is undergoing a significant revival as a new generation of breeders firmly focussed on maximising the breed’s commercial attributes has developed the breed into a modern terminal sire. The breed’s easy lambing, docility and ease of finishing make it a suitable sire for a range of sheep farming systems in all locations and climates with Southdown rams found working in all corners of the UK from Cornwall to Aberdeenshire.