After reading about Columbia sheep at Chester farms, perhaps that will be a good choice.
Since you will be handling the sheep by yourself I would look into smaller breeds. A friend had Columbias and egads - her male (started as a ram and then she whethered him) was almost up to my chest. A huge animal and in an emergency (such as injury) there would be no way that I, even as an experienced horse handler, could have managed to hold one of those creatures and do any type of emergency medical procedures on them!
I, for the above reason and for personality, ease of birthing, the wonderful and varied fleeces, and general hardiness on my rocky, sandy, barely-can-sustain-grass farm - chose Shetlands.
Ultimately you need to access your facilities, space (bigger sheep need bigger space), use of fiber (will you be combining it all and have it commercially processed or selling the fleeces individually to hand spinners?), and just plain what appeals to your eye! After all they will be in 'your backyard' and you need to enjoy this process!
Check out my website for information. Nadine Nadine Chounet Painted Knoll Farm New Hampton, NH [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.paintedknollfarm.net/index.html Registered Shetland Sheep for breeding/fiber/pets Fleeces and rovings also available To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
