The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced Monday that Virginia’s cattle and calves inventory totaled 1.53 million head on Jan. 1, 2014. This is down 5 percent from last year’s inventory of 1.61 million head. This is according to data from the Virginia Field Office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS).
Virginia’s inventory ranked 20th in the united states for total number of cattle and calves, representing 1.7 percent of the total united states inventory. Beef cow inventory, at 657,000 head, was down 4 percent from last year’s total of 686,000 head. Milk cow inventory totaled 93,000 head, a 1 percent drop from 2013.
Beef replacement heifers totaled 115,000 head on Jan. 1, down 9,000 head from last year’s total of 124,000 head. Milk replacement heifer inventory increased, totaling 40,000 head, 5,000 head more than last year.
Virginia’s inventory of steers 500 pounds and over totaled 170,000 head, down 13 percent from the 2013 total of 195,000 head. Total inventory of all calves less than 500 pounds was 345,000 head, a decline of 10,000 head from Jan. 1, 2013. The 2013 calf crop totaled 640,000 head, down 30,000 head from 2012.
Virginia’s sheep and lamb inventory totaled 83,000 head on Jan. 1, 2014, according to NASS. This is down 5 percent from last year’s inventory of 87,000 head.
Breeding sheep inventory, at 66,000 head, was down 6 percent from last year’s total of 70,000 head. Market sheep inventory totaled 17,000 head, no change from 2013.
Sheep shorn totaled 32,000 head on Jan. 1, down 6 percent from last year’s total of 34,000 head shorn. Wool production was 190,000 total pounds, down 5 percent from last year’s total of 200,000 pounds. The 2013 lamb crop totaled 58,000 head, down 3,000 head from 2012.
Virginia’s meat and other goat inventory totaled 50,000 head on Jan. 1, 2014. This is down 25 percent from last year’s inventory of 67,000 head. Milk goat inventory totaled 3,300 head on Jan. 1, down 1,800 head from last year’s total of 5,100 head.
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