Gadara Babydoll Sheep

Babydoll Sheep

Gadara Babydoll Sheep are bred for their appealing beauty, kind, calm nature, and manageable size. Our purebred ewes, wethers and rams are registered with the Babydoll Sheep Breeders Association Australia (BSBA) and/or Australian Stud Sheep Breeders Association (ASSBA). Gadara is a small and intimate stud where sheep are handled and cared for like pets, and also have a purpose in helping maintain the orchard, plus they are included in therapy sessions with the children who visit as well. They get to live in paddocks and orchard areas which are clean and rotated with each sheep having a detailed and personalised healthcare plan.

Babydolls are derived from the Southdown Breed which was established in England in the late 19th Century mostly through the work of John Ellman. It is the Southdown calm, docile temperament which is a great foundation for Babydolls being helpful additions to therapy and care programs where humans like to move among animals in their natural environment, while service providers at therapy or care farms have to manage risks of being around free animals professionally.

The first Southdown flockbook was written in 1892 and here Newton Clayton and WW Chapman said: “Small in size, but great in value,” and this is still a prized characteristic seen in the true Southdown and now also in the Babydoll sheep. The Southdown still exists throughout the world (including Australia) and is a heritage British sheep breed – the Babydoll has become a breed in it’s own right. You can see when looking at these sheep that some look more like the traditional handsome Southdown and some more like the newer (cuter) Babydoll breed. Here at Gadara we consider both as beautiful.

So how did the Babydoll breed come to be? The breed was initially created in USA by Robert Mock who gathered together a collection of shorter woolly headed Southdowns, both white and coloured, and established the first Babydoll registry in 1991. This was when the first breed standard was written for Babydolls. Not long after here, in Australia, Linda Power set about creating a Babydoll breed for Australia in 2005. Her Roblin stud was always a registered Southdown flock. She gathered together smaller woolly headed Southdowns from various Australian flocks to create her Babydoll breed. These days there are more studs to choose from and we encourage purchasers to look around for breeders who align with their values for their farm.

Southdown and Babydoll Sheep can both be included in orchards and vineyard maintenance programs for grazing grass and weeds around trees where it’s hard to mow, without damaging trees or fruit. This is environmentally positive and follows the permaculture philosophy we love. Gadara Babydoll sheep are also bred with the temperament and experience to work with children and therapists trained to provide Animal Assisted Therapy, as this is part of the Gadara Therapy Farming culture.

If you are interested in purchasing lambs or sheep please contact us to go on our waiting list. We have purebred and crossbred sheep including those who look very cute like the small woolly Babydolls and those with the more traditional handsome Southdown look. Come and meet them and you can see our rams – Clancy who is black and Marco who is white.