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South Dakota
SHEEP INVENTORY

News Release

January 28, 2005

SOUTH DAKOTA SHEEP INVENTORY UP
                        
SIOUX FALLS, January 28, 2005 _ The January 1, 2005 South Dakota inventory of all sheep and lambs totaled 375,000 head, up 5,000 head from last year, according to USDA's South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Office. The breeding herd decreased 5,000 head from last year, and the marketing herd increased 10,000 head. Other classes and their changes from one year ago are:

    *     Breeding sheep and lambs, at 285,000 head, down 2 percent from the
January 1, 2004 herd.

    *     Ewes one year old and older, at 230,000 head, down 4 percent from last year.

    *     Rams and wethers one year old and older, at 8,000 head, down 1,000 head from January 1, 2004.

    *     Replacement lambs for breeding, at 47,000 head, up 15 percent from last year.

    *     Market sheep and lambs, at 90,000 head, up 13 percent from one year ago.

Lambs born during 2004 totaled 290,000 head, down 10,000 head from the 2003 lamb crop.

Wool production for 2004 , at 2,610,000 pounds, was down 15,000 pounds. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 345,000 head, compared to 330,000 head in 2003.

                        
                
The complete report can be accessed at www.usda.gov/nass/
or call Carter Anderson or Steve Noyes at
605-323-6500



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