Background
Sheep are raised for both meat (lamb or mutton) and wool. The U.S. sheep and wool industries have seen significant change since the mid-1970s, marked by smaller inventories, declining production, shrinking revenues, and fewer operations. Historically, lamb and mutton have been viewed as byproducts of wool production, even though wool receipts have accounted for only about one-quarter of revenue. As wool revenues have declined, producers have turned their attention to lamb and mutton production.

Inventory data on U.S. sheep began in 1867, when there were approximately 45 million sheep in the United States. Sheep numbers peaked in 1884 at 51 million head. Since then, numbers have declined to nearly 6.0 million head. The number of sheep operations has declined as well. During the 1990s, sheep operations dropped from more than 106,000 to about 66,000, as producers experienced shrinking revenues and low rates of return.

Sheep producers range in size from those with small flocks to large western operations. Two types of enterprises exist: stock-sheep production and lamb feeding. Stock-sheep producers manage grazing flocks on pasture and range forage, often on arid western lands with few alternative uses. Stock-sheep producers sell lambs that are either slaughtered or placed in feedlots. Feeder lambs are raised on forage until they are around 60-80 pounds, then placed in feedlots to be fattened and finished for slaughter.

Although the sheep industry accounts for less than 1 percent of U.S. livestock industry receipts, sheep operations are important to the economies of several States. More than two-thirds of U.S. operations are located in the Southern Plains, Mountain, and Pacific regions, and the regional distribution has remained fairly constant since the early 1900s. Texas is the largest sheep producing state, followed by California.

The U.S. market for lamb and mutton has weakened throughout the decades. Since the 1960s, per capita consumption has dropped from nearly 5 pounds to just over 1 pound. This is due in part to declining acceptance of lamb from a growing segment of the population, as well as competition from other meats, such as poultry, pork, and beef. Most meat is sold as lamb and comes from animals under 14 months old. Mutton comes from older animals and is often less expensive but less desirable to consumers. U.S. lamb consumers prefer high-quality cuts such as legs and loins. Some of the lower quality, less desirable cuts go to the pet-food industry or are exported.

The Northeast, with its high concentrations of Middle Eastern, Caribbean, and African consumers, is a major market for lamb products. The typical lamb consumer is an older, relatively well-established ethnic individual who lives in a metropolitan area like New York, Boston, or Philadelphia in the Northeast or San Francisco or Los Angeles on the West Coast, and who prefers to eat only certain lamb cuts. In contrast, beef, pork, and poultry buyers tend to be geographically dispersed, younger, less ethnically oriented, and buy a wider variety of cuts.