E-mail: nass-ny@nass.usda.gov
(518) 457-5570

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:  Joseph Morse
Monday, February 1, 2010

www.nass.usda.gov/ny



             NEW YORK SHEEP INVENTORY INCREASES 

 
New York sheep and lambs totaled 66,000 head on January 1, 2010, according to Stephen 
Ropel, Director of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office. This 
is up 6 percent from the 62,000 head of the previous year. 

 
A total of 45,000 lambs were born in New York during 2009, up 2 percent from the 2008 total. 
Breeding ewes one year old and older in 2009 totaled 40,000 head, yielding a lambing rate of 
113 per 100 ewes, which is 11 percent up from the 2008 rate. 

 
New York wool production during 2009 totaled 260,000 pounds, unchanged from a year earlier. 
The average price received for wool remained unchanged at 0.30 cents per pound. The value 
of production was unchanged at 78,000 dollars. 

 
All sheep and lamb inventory in the United States on January 1, 2010, totaled 5.63 million head, 
down 2 percent from 2009. Breeding sheep inventory decreased to 4.19 million head on 
January 1, 2010, down 1 percent from 4.25 million head on January 1, 2009. Ewes one year old 
and older, at 3.34 million head, were 2 percent below last year. 
 

Market sheep and lambs on January 1, 2010, totaled 1.44 million head, down 4 percent from 
January 1, 2009. Market lambs comprised 94 percent of the total marketings. Twenty-five 
percent were lambs under 65 pounds, 12 percent were 65 - 84 pounds, 19 percent were 85 - 
105 pounds, and 38 percent were over 105 pounds. Market sheep comprised the remaining 6 
percent of total marketings. 

 
The 2009 lamb crop of 3.69 million head, was down 1 percent from 2008. The 2009 lambing 
rate was 108 lambs per 100 ewes one year old and older on January 1, 2009, up 3 percent from 
2008. 

 
Shorn wool production in the United States during 2009 was 30.9 million pounds, down 6 
percent from 2008. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 4.20 million head, down 5 percent from 
2008. The average price paid for wool sold in 2009 was $0.79 per pound for a total value of 24.4 
million dollars, down 25 percent from 32.5 million dollars in 2008. The information in this 
release is available by free email subscription by subscribing to New York reports at 
www.nass.usda.gov/ny. 

 

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