By Brady Campbell
For those that have been following along, you may recall an announcement that we shared this past fall from the American Sheep Industry Association outlining the cooperative agreement between The Ohio State University and USDA Market News that establish the first ever USDA market report for any type of agricultural commodity in the state of Ohio. I am humbled to share that I currently serve as the weekly market reporter. I have learned a great deal about livestock marketing, especially as it relates to the seasonality, shape, size, and condition of of sheep and lamb. Each week you will find me ring side at the Mt. Hope Auction in Mt. Hope evaluating groups of lambs and sheep as they enter and exit the ring. If you ever find your way there or are simply dropping off stock for the sale, stop in and say hello. I enjoy meeting with all of our small ruminant producers. Do note that the lamb sale begins 1-hour after the conclusion of the goat sale. On days with lighter numbers of goats, the lamb sale typically begins around 1 pm.
Now let’s get to the report. You can access our weekly report by using this link https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_3918.pdf. NOTE: This link will does not change. Each week it will be updated with the latest report. If you would like to view other sheep and lamb market reports from across the country to compare, please use the follow steps.
- Start by using the following link to access the USDA site: https://www.ams.usda.gov/market-news/livestock-poultry-grain
- Scroll down the site to “Reports by Commodity” and click on “Sheep”
- Click on “Sheep Auction Reports” near the center of the page
- Click on “Ohio”
- Then click on “Mount Hope Auction – Sheep Auction – Mount Hope, OH (Wed) (pdf)”.
- Or you may choose any other auction in the list provided to compare prices across the country.
- **To view past reports, go to My Market News page here: https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/ and you’ll need to click on “Search Previous Reports”. Once here, in the “Report Title” box, type “Mount Hope Sheep” and it will pull up all the previous reports.