The 2023 lamb crop of 3.03 million head was down 2% from 2022, and the January 2024 market lamb and sheep inventory, reported at 1.36 million head, was down 2% from 2023.
The 2023 North Dakota lamb crop decreased 8% to 44,000 head, year over year, but gained 7% in production efficiency, reaching 119 lambs per 100 ewes. Though there are fewer ewes, North Dakota producers are improving their management and return per ewe, says Hoffman.
The Minnesota lamb crop dropped 6% to 85,000 head of lambs. However, Minnesota is second only to Virginia for sheep production efficiency in the nation with 133 lambs produced per 100 ewes.
South Dakota leads the Northern Plains region, producing 175,000 head with an intermediate lambing efficiency of 122 lambs per 100 ewes in 2023.
Shorn wool production in the U.S. was 22.7 million pounds in 2023, with an average weight of 7 pounds and a $1.56 per pound average price paid. The total value for wool produced was $35.3 million.
According to Hoffman, Minnesota sheep producers tend to emphasize performance with a variety of medium wool breeds in small-to-medium farm flocks, while larger operations with fine wool breeds are more common in western North and South Dakota.
Wool prices for medium wools have remained sluggish over the past several years, averaging $0.30 per pound in Minnesota, while fine-fibered wools had higher returns, averaging $0.95 per pound in North Dakota and $1.25 per pound in South Dakota.
Overall, current feeder and slaughter lamb prices have remained high to begin the year with prices of more than $250 per hundredweight for 60-to-90-pound lambs expected for the spring.
“The enthusiasm of young producers is evident, and with lower U.S. sheep supply, opportunity exists for near or greater than $200/hundredweight slaughter lambs this summer, resulting in a profitable 2024 lamb crop enterprise,” Hoffman says.
Source : ndsu.edu