WASHINGTON, DC – All sheep and lamb inventory in South Dakota on January 1, 2020 totaled 250,000 head, down 5,000 from last year, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Breeding sheep inventory totaled 187,000 head, down 7,000 from last year. Ewes one year and older totaled 152,000 head, down 5,000 from the previous year. Rams one year and older totaled 5,000, down 1,000 from last year. Total replacement lambs totaled 30,000 head, down 1,000 from last year.
Market sheep and lambs totaled 63,000 head, up 2,000 from last year. Of this total were 16,000 market lambs between 85-105 pounds; 21,000 were 105 pounds or over. The under 65 pounds and 65-84 pounds weight groups were withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations.
The 2019 lamb crop totaled 195,000 head, down 5,000 from 2018. The 2019 lambing rate was 124 per 100 ewes one year and older, compared with 131 in 2018.
Sheep deaths totaled 9,000 head, up 500 from last year. Lamb deaths totaled 26,000 head, up 3,000 from last year.
Sheep and lambs slaughtered on farm totaled 1,500 head, up 300 from last year.
Shorn wool production during 2019 was 1.69 million pounds, down 60,000 from 2018. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 225,000 head, down 5,000 from 2018. Weight per fleece was 7.5 pounds, down 0.1 from last year. The average price paid for wool sold in 2019 was $1.87 per pound, compared with $1.83 in 2018. The total value of wool produced in South Dakota was 3.16 million dollars in 2019.
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
