Pa. sheep, lamb inventory up from last year

HARRISBURG, Pa. — All sheep and lamb inventory in Pennsylvania as of Jan. 1 totaled 98,000, up 4 percent from the previous year, according to the Pennsylvania field office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Total inventory included 62,000 breeding ewes one year old and older, down 2 percent from January 1, 2010. Rams one year old and older were at 6,000 head, an increase of 1,000 from last year’s inventory. There were 16,000 replacement lambs, 4,000 less than a year ago.

Market sheep and lambs totaled 14,000 as of January 1, the same as the 2010 estimate. Of this total, 11,000 were market lambs and 3,000 were market sheep. The 2010 lamb crop of 70,000 head was up 8 percent from 2009.

Lambing

The 2010 lambing rate was 111 lambs per 100 ewes one year old and older on hand January 1, 2010, an increase of 9 lambs from the 2009 lambing rate. All sheep and lamb inventory in the U.S. on January 1, totaled 5.53 million head, down 2 percent from 2010.

Breeding sheep inventory decreased to 4.12 million head as of January 1, a 2 percent drop from 4.19 million head on January 1, 2010. Ewes one year old and older, at 3.26 million head, were 2 percent below last year.

Market sheep and lambs as of January 1 totaled 1.42 million head, which was 1 percent lower than the inventory taken January 1, 2010. Market lambs comprised 94 percent of the total marketing.

Weight

Of the number of market lambs, 28 percent were lambs under 65 pounds, 13 percent were 65-84 pounds, 23 percent 85-105 pounds, and 36 percent were over 105 pounds. Market sheep comprised the remaining 6 percent of total marketing.

The 2010 lamb crop of 3.60 million head was down 2 percent from 2009. The 2010 lambing rate was 108 lambs per 100 ewes one year old and older as of January 1, 2010 remained unchanged from the 2009 lambing rate.

Shorn wool production in the U.S. during 2010 was 30.6 million pounds, down 1 percent from 2009. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 4.22 million head, a slight increase from 2009. The average price paid for wool sold in 2010 was $1.15 per pound for a total value of $35.3 million dollars, up 45 percent from $24.3 million dollars in 2009.