Sheep and Goat Inventory Updated

SHEEP AND GOAT INVENTORY

According to the Kentucky Field Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service both sheep and lamb inventories and goat inventories decreased in Kentucky from last year. 

The total number of sheep in Kentucky on January 1, 2017, was estimated at 48,000 head, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous year’s estimate. All breeding sheep and lambs were estimated at 38,000 head and all market sheep and lambs were estimated at 10,000 head. Breeding ewes were decreased to 30,000, but breeding rams remained constant at 2,000 head. Replacement lambs numbered 6,000, a decrease of 1,000 from 2016. Lamb crop for 2016 increased by 3,000 from last year to 38,000 head. 

All meat and other goats in Kentucky were estimated at 56,000 head, down 3,000 head from January 2016. Milk goats at 5,500 head, were up 500 head from the previous year’s estimate.