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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:  Joseph Morse
Monday, January 31, 2011

www.nass.usda.gov/ny



                         NEW YORK SHEEP INVENTORY INCREASES

New York sheep and lambs totaled 70,000 head on January 1, 2011, according to King 
Whetstone, Director of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office.  
This is up 6 percent from the 66,000 head of the previous year.  

A total of 49,000 lambs were born in New York during 2010, up 9 percent from the 2009 total.  
Breeding ewes one year old and older in 2010 totaled 42,000 head, yielding a lambing rate of 117 
per 100 ewes, which is 4 percent up from the 2009 rate.  

New York wool production during 2010 totaled 245,000 pounds, down 6 percent from a year 
earlier.  The average price received for wool increased 10 cents to 0.30 dollars per pound.  The 
value of production increased to 98,000 dollars.  

All sheep and lamb inventory in the United States on January 1, 2011, totaled 5.53 million head, 
down 2 percent from 2010. Breeding sheep inventory decreased to 4.12 million head on January 
1, 2011, down 2 percent from 4.19 million head on January 1, 2010. Ewes one year old and 
older, at 3.26 million head, were 2 percent below last year.    

Market sheep and lambs on January 1, 2011, totaled 1.42 million head, down 1 percent from 
January 1, 2010. Market lambs comprised 94 percent of the total marketings. Twenty-seven 
percent were lambs under 65 pounds, 12 percent were 65 - 84 pounds, 21 percent were 85 - 
105 pounds, and 34 percent were over 105 pounds. Market sheep comprised the remaining 6 
percent of total marketings.

The 2010 lamb crop of 3.60 million head, was down 2 percent from 2009. The 2010 lambing rate 
was 108 lambs per 100 ewes one year old and older on January 1, 2010, unchanged from 2009.   

Shorn wool production in the United States during 2010 was 30.6 million pounds, down 1 percent 
from 2009. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 4.22 million head, up slightly from 2009. The average 
price paid for wool sold in 2010 was $1.15 per pound for a total value of 35.3 million dollars, up 
45 percent from 24.3 million dollars in 2009.   The information in this release is available by free 
email subscription by subscribing to New York reports at www.nass.usda.gov/ny.
 
#
1-31-11