Sheep industry report offers snapshot of US market

Lamb

Meat

United States

Market & Price Trends

Published Feb 24, 2024

Tridge summary

The 2023 Sheep Industry Review indicates a decline in sheep inventories and the smallest lamb crop on record at 3.03 million head. Despite this, there was a decrease in imported lamb and mutton, improved drought conditions, and a slight decline in production costs. Lamb and mutton imports fell by 21%, with imports from Australia and New Zealand also decreasing. Retail lamb prices remained high despite a decrease. The 2024 outlook is optimistic, with potential for improved producer margins due to strong live-lamb prices and reduced feeding costs, despite challenges such as declining flock numbers and high food prices.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.

Original content

While last year saw the smallest lamb crop on record with just 3.03 million head, there were also some bright spots related to lamb imports and pricing, according to the 2023 Sheep Industry Review, a checkoff-funded report commissioned by the American Lamb Board and compiled by the American Sheep Industry Association. “Last year saw a decline in inventory at all levels,” said ALB chairman Jeff Ebert. “However, producers did feel a bit of relief with a significant decrease in imported lamb and mutton, improved drought conditions in most areas, a slight decline in production costs and relatively high slaughter and retail prices.” Some key findings in the report: Smaller inventory Looking back at inventory levels in 2023 revealed a continued decline in sheep inventories across the board. Breeding sheep declined by 2% to 3.67 million head, market lambs were down 24,000 head to 1.28 million head, and the total lamb crop was down to 3.03 million head, the smallest on record. Feedlot ...

Source: Provisioner