About us.
Babydoll Sheep Breeders Australia Incorporated is a non-profit association registered in NSW on 11 June 2020
(ABN 95 638 983 780 INC2000612) |
Our Objectives
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Our Constitution
We are a Tier 2 association governed by the Model constitution as updated from time to time by NSW Fair Trading. More information about the Model constitution can be found here.
Our Code of Ethics
Read our Code of Ethics for members, office bearers and committee members
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Our vision.
We are creating a new Babydoll sheep breed in Australia based on long established Southdown genetics. Each member has the chance to direct where this new breed will end up while working within the confines of the breed standard. Breeders ‘grading up’ play a key role in creating the breed.
Internationally, a Babydoll Southdown breed has been developed in North America over many decades based on selected Southdown genetics originally imported from Britain. This breed is more widely known as Babydoll. The breed standards for North American Babydolls allow for white and coloured Babydolls and some registries also allow spotted Babydolls. Quarantine restrictions and conditions make importation of the North American Babydoll genetics into Australia highly unlikely.
The conventional way to breed to purity is to only use sheep with 100% bloodlines over other sheep, moving from first cross (50%) to second cross (75%), to third cross (87.5%), to fourth cross (93.75%) and so on in consecutive matings. Since the 100% Babydoll Southdown genetics from North America are unlikely to become available in Australia, we need a different approach.
In Australia we already have the Southdown genetics imported from Britain many years ago and a long history of quality Southdown sheep breeding at our fingertips. We can use these genetics and information from the North American Babydoll breed standards to help us develop a Babydoll sheep breed of our own.
As for colour, we recognise that although Southdowns in Australia are traditionally off white, other colour options are also attractive to Babydoll sheep enthusiasts. The Babydoll Sheep Breeders Australia (BSBA) breed standard for Babydolls is modelled on the North American breed standards and also allows all wool colours, patterns and spots.
BSBA encourages breeders to approach the breed standard from whatever direction they wish to explore. Some may cross lower percentages of Southdown together, creating a huge amount of diversity and introducing new colour options. This approach will take longer to achieve the high percentage of Southdown parentage required for our new breed but will offer other opportunities. Others may breed with parents with a high percentage of Southdown and work towards achieving consistent Babydoll sheep breed traits. We call all of these Emerging (EM) Babydolls.
The current BSBA ruling is that any sheep is deemed purebred Babydoll if it is pedigreed greater than 93% Southdown and has passed inspection as purebred Babydoll by an independent panel using the BSBA Babydoll Breed Type Matrix.
BSBA encourages breeders to explore the genetics available to you, keep your records accurate for the good of the rest of us and work together on this exciting project. The future is yours to influence and create perfection in a small and useful sheep, one that is easy handling, useful for orchards, vineyards, lifestyle farms and other situations where small stature and calm temperament are assets and also as a meat source.
Last reviewed May 2026
Internationally, a Babydoll Southdown breed has been developed in North America over many decades based on selected Southdown genetics originally imported from Britain. This breed is more widely known as Babydoll. The breed standards for North American Babydolls allow for white and coloured Babydolls and some registries also allow spotted Babydolls. Quarantine restrictions and conditions make importation of the North American Babydoll genetics into Australia highly unlikely.
The conventional way to breed to purity is to only use sheep with 100% bloodlines over other sheep, moving from first cross (50%) to second cross (75%), to third cross (87.5%), to fourth cross (93.75%) and so on in consecutive matings. Since the 100% Babydoll Southdown genetics from North America are unlikely to become available in Australia, we need a different approach.
In Australia we already have the Southdown genetics imported from Britain many years ago and a long history of quality Southdown sheep breeding at our fingertips. We can use these genetics and information from the North American Babydoll breed standards to help us develop a Babydoll sheep breed of our own.
As for colour, we recognise that although Southdowns in Australia are traditionally off white, other colour options are also attractive to Babydoll sheep enthusiasts. The Babydoll Sheep Breeders Australia (BSBA) breed standard for Babydolls is modelled on the North American breed standards and also allows all wool colours, patterns and spots.
BSBA encourages breeders to approach the breed standard from whatever direction they wish to explore. Some may cross lower percentages of Southdown together, creating a huge amount of diversity and introducing new colour options. This approach will take longer to achieve the high percentage of Southdown parentage required for our new breed but will offer other opportunities. Others may breed with parents with a high percentage of Southdown and work towards achieving consistent Babydoll sheep breed traits. We call all of these Emerging (EM) Babydolls.
The current BSBA ruling is that any sheep is deemed purebred Babydoll if it is pedigreed greater than 93% Southdown and has passed inspection as purebred Babydoll by an independent panel using the BSBA Babydoll Breed Type Matrix.
BSBA encourages breeders to explore the genetics available to you, keep your records accurate for the good of the rest of us and work together on this exciting project. The future is yours to influence and create perfection in a small and useful sheep, one that is easy handling, useful for orchards, vineyards, lifestyle farms and other situations where small stature and calm temperament are assets and also as a meat source.
Last reviewed May 2026