Report: Cattle, sheep inventories up

According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Virginia’s cattle and calves inventory totaled 1.61 million head on January 1, 2013, up eight percent from last year’s inventory of 1.49 million head.

The state’s sheep and lamb inventory totaled 87 thousand head on January 1, up four percent from last year’s inventory of 84 thousand head. The statistics were provided from the Virginia Field Office of the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Services.

Cattle

Virginia’s cattle inventory tied with Pennsylvania, ranking 18th in the United States for total number of cattle and calves and representing 1.8 percent of the total United States Inventory.

Beef cow inventory, at 686 thousand head, was up three percent from last year’s total of 664 thousand head. Milk cow inventory totaled 94 thousand head, a two percent drop from 2012.

Beef replacement heifers totaled 124 thousand head on January 1, up 29 thousand from last year’s total of 95 thousand head. Milk replacement heifer inventory decreased, totaling 35 thousand head, a decline of five thousand head from last year.

Virginia’s inventory of steers 500 pounds and over totaled 195 thousand head, up 22 percent from the 2012 total of 160 thousand head. Total inventory of all calves less than 500 pounds was 360 thousand head, an increase of 20 thousand head from January 1, 2012.

Sheep/Goats

Breeding sheep inventory, at 70 thousand head, was down five percent from last year’s total of 74 thousand head. Market sheep inventory totaled 17 thousand head, a 70 percent gain from 2012.

Sheep shorn totaled 34 thousand head on January 1, 2013, down three percent from last year’s total of 35 thousand head shorn. Wool production remained consistent with last year at 200 thousand total pounds.

Virginia’s meat and other goat inventory totaled 67 thousand head on January 1, 2013. This is up three percent from last year’s inventory of 65 thousand head.

Milk goat inventory totaled 5,100 head on January 1, down 100 head from last year’s total of 5,200 head.

Nationally, all cattle and calves as of January 1 totaled 89.3 million head, two percent below the 90.8 million on January 1, 2012. This is the lowest January 1 inventory of all cattle and calves since the 88.1 million on hand in 1952. All sheep and lamb inventory in the United States on January 1, 2013, totaled 5.34 million head, down one percent from 2012.