US Sheep and Wool Economics

Peter Orwick, executive director of the American Sheep Industry Association, shares an update on his state of the industry and how tariffs are impacting sheep and wool.

"Trade with China is down about 40% there's no crush that. There's a huge impact on our trade. So what we've been doing, as with a lot of the agriculture group, is you're looking at markets everywhere else. We're looking at at those opportunities to sell wool and find new customers for us on on that side in a land market.”

Orwick says the US dollar remains a preferred currency, giving American lamb a competitive edge and solid profit margins compared to imports. At the same time, the industry is exploring growth in domestic consumption supported by an increase in lamb processing plants across the country.

“We were looking the other day at the number of lamb plants overall, and we have 600 operations across America that process lamb. And I think that's just reflective, again, the demand that there is for lamb meat. And it might be, you know, more the farmers market, it might be more the direct to consumer and but we still do have the large commercial plants that are handling 1000s of lambs per week.”

Peter Orwick of the American Sheep Industry Association.