Ohio Sheep and Milk Goat Inventories Lower

Thursday, February 2, 2023

All sheep and lamb inventory in Ohio on January 1, 2023, was 125,000 head, down 2,000 from 2022, according to Marlo D. Johnson, director of the USDA, NASS, Great Lakes Regional Office.

Breeding sheep inventory, at 99,000 head, was down 2,000 from last year.

Market sheep and lambs totaled 26,000 head, unchanged from last year. The 2022 Ohio lamb crop was 92,000 head, down 3,000 from the previous year.

All sheep and lambs inventory in the United States on January 1, 2023 totaled 5.02 million head, down 1 percent from 2022. Breeding sheep inventory at 3.67 million head on January 1, 2023, decreased 1 percent from 3.71 million head on January 1, 2022. Ewes one year old and older, at 2.87 million head, were 1 percent below last year. Market sheep and lambs on January 1, 2023 totaled 1.36 million head, unchanged from January 1, 2022. Market lambs comprised 94 percent of the total market inventory. Market sheep comprised the remaining 6 percent of total market inventory.

The number of sheep and lambs shorn in Ohio, at 80,000 head, was down 1,000 from the previous year. Ohio shorn wool production in 2022 was 460,000 pounds, down 20,000 from 2021. The average price paid for wool in Ohio was $0.55 per pound, a decrease of $0.10 from the previous year. The total value of wool was $253,000, $59,000 below the 2021 value.

Shorn wool production in the United States during 2022 was 22.2 million pounds, down 1 percent from 2021. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 3.17 million head, down 1 percent from 2021. The average price paid for wool sold in 2022 was $1.53 per pound for a total value of $33.9 million, down 11 percent from $38.2 million in 2021.

As of January 1, 2023, there were 10,000 milk goats in Ohio, down 1,000 from a year earlier. The Ohio meat and other goat inventory was 43,000 head, 1,000 above the January 1, 2022, inventory.

All goats and kids inventory in the United States on January 1, 2023 totaled 2.51 million head, down 2 percent from 2022. Breeding goat inventory totaled 2.06 million head, down 2 percent from 2022. Does one year old and older, at 1.52 million head, were 2 percent below last year's number. Market goats and kids totaled 451,000 head, down 1 percent from a year ago.