All sheep and lamb inventory in South Dakota on January 1, 2023 totaled 250,000 head, up 15,000 from last year, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Breeding sheep inventory totaled 187,000 head, up 8,000 from last year. Ewes one year and older totaled 151,000 head, up 5,000 from the previous year. Rams one year and older totaled 5,000, unchanged from last year. Replacement lambs totaled 31,000 head, up 3,000 from last year.
Market sheep and lambs totaled 63,000 head, up 7,000 from last year. A total of 1,000 head were mature sheep (one year and older) while the remaining 62,000 were under one year. Market lamb weight groups were estimated as follows: 10,000 lambs were under 65 pounds; 8,000 were 65-84 pounds; 15,000 were 85-105 pounds; and 29,000 were over 105 pounds.
The 2022 lamb crop totaled 200,000 head, unchanged from 2021. The 2022 lambing rate was 137 per 100 ewes one year and older, compared with 131 in 2021.
Sheep deaths totaled 8,000 head, up 2,000 from last year. Lamb deaths totaled 23,000 head, up 3,000 from last year.
Sheep and lambs slaughtered on farm totaled 1,500 head, down 500 from last year.
Shorn wool production during 2022 was 1.75 million pounds, up 30,000 from 2021. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 225,000 head, unchanged from 2021. Weight per fleece was 7.8 pounds, up 0.2 from 2021. The average price paid for wool sold in 2022 was $1.20 per pound, compared with $1.40 in 2021. The total value of wool produced in South Dakota was 2.10 million dollars in 2022.
South Dakota goat inventory numbers are not separately published as part of NASS’s annual program. The counts are included in the “other states” category and U.S. totals each year. State level data for those “other states” are published as part of NASS’s Census of Agriculture.
Access the national report at: https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/000000018.
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