Cattle and goat inventory down in Virginia while the number of sheep are up
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently released its Sheep and Goats report as well as its Cattle Inventory report.
The reports show:
The Virginia sheep inventory increased 1% from last year.
The meat and other goats inventory decreased 7% from last year while milk goats increased 14% from 2022.
Total inventory of all cattle was down 90,000 head from last year.
Data in the report are based on a survey of farmers conducted in January.
Sheep and Lambs
The total number of sheep and lambs in Virginia on January 1, 2023 , was estimated at 73,000 head, up 1,000 head from the previous year's estimate. All breeding sheep and lambs were estimated at 58,000 head and all market sheep and lambs were estimated at 15,000 head. Breeding ewes were estimated at 45,000 head, down 1,000 head from last year and breeding rams were estimated at 3,000 head, unchanged head from last year. Replacement lambs were estimated at 10,000 head, up 1,000 head from 2022. Lamb crop for 2022 was estimated at 56,000 head, down 2,000 head from 2021.
Goats
All meat and other goats in Virginia were estimated at 39,000 head, down 3,000 head from January 2022. Milk goats were at 4,800 head, up 600 head from the previous year's estimate.
Cattle
The Virginia cattle and calf inventory for January 1, 2023 was estimated at 1.30 million head according to the Virginia Field Office of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Total inventory was down 90,000 head from last year.
Cows and heifers that have calved were estimated at 630,000 head, down 40,000 head from the 670,000 for 2022. Beef cow inventory was estimated at 563,000 head and milk cows were estimated at 67,000 head.
Heifers 500 lbs. and over were estimated at 178,000 head, down 15,000 head from last year's estimate. Beef replacement heifers totaled 80,000 head, down 9,000 from January 2022. Dairy heifers, at 34,000 head, were down 1,000 from 2022.
Other heifers, at 64,000 head, were down 5,000 from the previous year. Steers 500 lbs. and over numbered 147,000 head, down 2,000 from 2022. Bulls 500 lbs. and over were down 3,000 head from a year ago and numbered 35,000 head. Calves less than 500 lbs. were estimated at 310,000 head, down 30,000 from the 2022 estimate. Cattle on feed were estimated at 14,000 head, down 3,000 from the previous year.
The 2022 calf crop was estimated at 590,000 head, down 40,000 from the previous year's estimate.
