Frequently asked questions

Our breeders put their heads together to make a list of questions about Babydoll sheep that are often asked...

Q. I love these sheep, where can I buy some?
A. Yes, we know Babydoll sheep can be hard to find. The good news is that we have a growing number of Babydoll breeders in Australia and numbers of Babydoll sheep are increasing. As the years go on it will be easier to buy Babydolls. You can try contacting breeders listed on our stud profiles page, join our Babydoll Sheep - Increase or Decrease Your Flock Facebook Goup or talk to Babydoll breeders at field days and shows. Have a look at our post about Buying Babydoll sheep for tips about what to look for.

Q. What are Babydoll sheep used for?
A. Babydoll sheep are a dual purpose breed used for meat and wool. Their wool is a springy Downs style fleece with a short staple which is quite different from Merino. Their meat is a fine textured, marbled meat with excellent flavour and useful for small cuts. Because of their easy going temperament and short stature, Babydoll sheep also make useful lawn mowers for vineyards, orchards and small farms.

Q. What are the routine health management tasks?
A. Generally, accepted practice is

• annual vaccination with 5in1 or 6in1 vaccine (lambs need two doses one month apart)
• drenching for parasitic worms as needed (worm egg count tests help you to identify when drenching is needed)
• trimming of hooves as needed
• shearing once a year
• crutching (shear wool from around tail) and wigging (shear wool from face) to reduce problems with flystrike and grass seeds
• provide fresh, clean drinking water
• provide suitable feed (pasture).

Q. What do you feed Babydoll sheep?
A. Like all sheep, Babydoll sheep do well on pasture. They are efficient feeders and generally do not need supplementary feeding except when there is insufficient grass (eg drought) or in late pregnancy and early lactation. Supplementary feed could be hay, grain or sheep pellets. Any new feed should be introduced slowly. If your Babydoll sheep are lying around for most of the day looking a bit like beached whales, they are eating too much. Refer to information from your State agriculture department about suitable feeds for sheep and calculating rations.

Q. What lick blocks do my sheep need?
A. General information from state agricultural departments suggests ensuring that your sheep are getting adequate levels of energy and protein before worrying about minerals and vitamins. A loose lick of equal parts of agricultural lime, coarse salt and Causemag is relatively inexpensive, easy to make and commonly recommended for use with sheep by these departments and other research bodies such as Australian Wool Innovation. There are also many commercially-made lick blocks and loose licks available.

Q. Do I need to have a shed for my Babydoll sheep?
A. Not really. As long as they have trees and shrubs providing shelter from hot sun and cold winds, Babydoll sheep will be fine out in the paddock day and night. Some Babydoll owners have a predator proof enclosure to protect their sheep where wild dogs are a problem. Some Babydoll owners will use a shed during lambing to protect lambs (but lambing can also be done in the paddock with vegetation as shelter).

Q. Should I get ewes, rams or wethers?
A. This depends on your goals. See Buying Babydoll Sheep - Choices. To state the obvious, if you don't want to breed sheep then don't get a ram.

Q. Do Babydoll Sheep make good pets?
A. Generally Babydoll sheep are fairly docile and easy to tame and train. Typical behaviours that can be learned are running up to greet people, following a bucket around the farm, accepting chin scratches and patting and walking on a halter and lead. Small amounts of hay and pellets are a powerful incentive! Ewes and wethers are the best option if you want Babydoll pets. Some rams that are encouraged to get overly familiar can become dangerous when they reach maturity. Even though they are short, Babydoll sheep can weigh up to 90kg and that is not funny if it is a ram running towards your knees.

Q. What fences do I need?
A. Babydoll sheep are generally fairly easy on fences. A well strained hinge-joint wire fence is generally adequate where wild dogs are not present. Babydoll sheep can also be trained to respect electric fences. A small pen is useful for doing sheep management tasks like injections, drenching and vet visits. This can be as simple as four temporary sheep panels joined together in a square with one side opening as a gate.

Q. Is there a look/type of Babydoll that everyone is aiming for, like they do in dog breeding?
A. The Babydoll breed is still being developed in Australia. Our vision describes how we are planning to get there. There are many opinions about what Babydolls should look like - how woolly the face should be, what is a practical and desirable body shape, whether they should they be miniature (involving dwarfing gene) or simply small. BSBA has a Babydoll breed standard which is a standard to aim for. Members also have access to our Babydoll Breed Type Matrix which helps them assess individual traits of a sheep against the breed standard. Even working to a breed standard, individual studs will tend to develop a look or type depending on their breeding goals

Q. What about coloured Babydolls?
A. The BSBA Babydoll breed standard includes white, coloured, patterned and spotted sheep based on Southdown genetics. Some coloured Babydolls have their colour entirely from recessive colour genetics found in purebred Southdowns. Others have their colour from crossbreeding with other breeds and then breeding up through four generations or more to increase the % of Southdown genetics.

Q. Are there any genetic faults in the breed?
A. There are genetic faults in all breeds.

A recessive genetic disorder to be aware of for Babydolls is Gaucher Disease. This is a genetic condition, not a disease, found in humans, dogs, mice and sheep including some Southdowns. Lambs with two copies of the gene will die soon after birth. There is a simple DNA test available that lets you check if your sheep (or sheep you are buying) are carriers. This is relevant to Babydolls since they have been bred using Southdown genetics.

Genetic faults typically become more common in any breed when the pool of genetic material is small and inbreeding occurs more frequently. Issues that can be seen in some Australian Babydolls are poor fertility, casting in late pregnancy, lambing difficulties (related to selecting for a combination of wide head, short neck and heavy shoulders), lambs born small and lacking vigour, twisted feet (typically an indicator of overall poor body structure), undescended testicles and excessively woolly faces that are impractical in Australian conditions. What a list! Babydolls don't have to be like this. We are lucky to have a wide range of Southdown genetics  in Australia to use to breed Babydolls.