Sheep Industry News May 2025

Market Report

DAVID ANDERSON, PH.D. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Spring is Here

A t the time of this writing – early April – there has certainly been a lot of turbulence in the broader economy, stock and bond prices, and the value of the dollar as tariffs have been announced and changed. It looks like that volatility is going to continue. But even through this volatility, there are some market fundamentals at work that are worth our focus. If you’ll indulge a short story, every day on my way from home to work and back at Texas A&M University, I pass a house on a lot of several acres in town, in the city limits. They have a small flock of sheep. They move between each small pasture and the barn. They are there every day throughout the year. One day it’s the same sheep but, the next day the yard is full of new lambs. The lambs appeared at the end of March, sort of an official start of Spring and a great addition to my drive home. As an economist, I think it’s worth remembering some fundamentals like seasons, production and holiday demand before getting too wrapped up in the headlines and market volatility. SUPPLIES Sheep and lamb slaughter normally peaks for the year about now. This year appears to be no exception with slaughter for the first week of April about 10 percent larger than last year. Dressed weights have climbed seasonally up 1 to 2 pounds compared to last year during the last few weeks. The combination of head and weights has lamb production in the last three weeks 16.4 percent greater than the

same period last year. In this case, it matters when Easter occurs be cause Easter 2024 was on March 31 compared to April 20 this year, and that caused an earlier peak in production. For the year through April 5, lamb production is 3.3 percent greater than last year. Imports of lamb dropped dramatically in February – the latest available data – totaling 17.9 million pounds from January’s 27.4 million pounds. February’s imports were the smallest since May 2023. But for the year, imports are up 2.9 percent compared to last year. For the first two months of the year, imports from Australia are up 6.4 percent while imports from New Zealand are down 7.5 percent. The combination of a little more domestic production and im ports yields an estimated small increase in total first quarter supplies of lamb compared to last year. The effect of any import tariffs on total lamb supplies in the marketplace should materialize later in the year, but we will see in the March trade data whether any shipments were made in advance of potential tariff announcements. PRICES Sheep and lamb prices have been a mixed bag this Spring, depending on the market. Lightweight, 60- to 90-pound slaughter lambs surged higher, seasonally. The average price of San Angelo (Texas), Colorado and South Dakota lambs in this weight class climbed to $274 per cwt. in early April compared to $260 last year at this time. Those prices have been higher than last year since Febru ary. In the San Angelo market, those lambs have been over $300 per cwt. through March. Prices at New Holland, Penn., averaged $324 per cwt. the first week of April. Heavier, 100- to 150-pound lambs in Sioux Falls, S.D., have been more than $210 per cwt. for almost two months, up from about $190 at the beginning of the year. But in contrast to the lighter weight slaughter lambs, the heavier lamb prices have been lower than last year. For the first week of April, prices averaged $216 compared to $226 a year ago. The national negotiated live price has been well below last year throughout 2025. On the meat side, most cuts and the cutout have been lower than last year. The exceptions have been shoulders and light racks. Boxed lamb shoulders were $415 per cwt. at the time of this writing compared to $409 last year. The light racks have really jumped in price from $11.20 per pound early in the year to $12.12 per pound in early April.

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