Speaking of Resurrections

Recently, there have been some posts and comments that all of North American BABYDOLL Southdown Sheep Association (NABSSAR)'s history is Olde English/ Mock based. This is not the first time NABSSAR has tried to re-write information on the breed and their practices. So, in the spirit of clarity, I thought it was a good idea to share this information.

This is an archived version of the NABSSAR website from 2006:

The underlined portion reads: "The [North American BABYDOLL Southdown Sheep Association and Registry] stands as an open registration; therefore, all BABYDOLL Southdown Sheep of non-registration status are also welcome provided the sheep meet the breed standard" - It does not detail the process here to include proof of Mock lineage (or any lineage) and the organization's own words outright said that sheep with non-registration status are welcome if they meet the NABSSAR standard.

Though the NABSSAR practices have been updated and gone through changes over the years, it is important to know that at one time (several years deep into their formation) according to their own website, NABSSAR accepted sheep from other registries and unregistered sheep.

Also of note from this handbook, NABSSAR is the second Babydoll breed registry/association and it was conceptionally formed nearly 20 years after Mr. Mock started his work on the Babydoll Southdown breed and formed the original registry. So it's not wild that another organization felt the need to also form itself another 20 years later to fill voids members/ breeders still feel were present.

I was also sent this old letter from 2004 that Mr. Mock sent to his members:



Part of the highlighted bit reads: "What they are proposing to register? Changing the height to 26" and accepting for registration sheep from three other registry's. Our registry, the American Southdown Breeders Registry (these are the larger modern day Southdowns that do not resemble our "Babydolls," and they are going to call them "Babydolls?!") and the TSBA, which I believe is the Toy Sheep Breeders Association. The only information being asked is the registration numbers for the sire and dam, no other proof. Since they do not know the numbering sequence of any registry this means anyone can register anything by putting down a number."

So, originally, NABSSAR was open to any sheep that met their own unique breed standards (according to their own handbook) ... and NABSSAR said they would be accepting sheep from three different registries according to this reaction letter from Mr. Mock.

I was tempted to just post the highlighted bit of the letter due to how all over the place (and pretty awful the letter is), but for clarity, I felt the need to post the whole letter since it is a historical reference for the breed.

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