USDA releases sheep, lamb death-loss report

FORT COLLINS, COLO. — Roughly 385,000 lambs and 215,300 sheep were lost due to predator and nonpredator causes in 2004, representing 9.4 and 5.6 percent of the U.S. lamb crop and sheep inventory, respectively.

The breakdown comes from the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS), a program within the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. In its report titled "Sheep and Lamb Nonpredator Death Loss in the United States, 2004," NAHMS notes that while sheep and lamb death loss remained relatively stable since 1999, the lamb death loss declined during the same period.

Other highlights include findings that nonpredator causes have accounted for the majority of sheep and lamb death losses since 1994, with 62.7 percent of losses in that category in 2004. Old age accounted for more sheep losses than any other cause during that same year. Theft and weather-related causes were lower in 2004 than a decade earlier, the report says.

The complete report is available online at http://nahms.aphis.usda.gov.