Posted: 02.11.2011

The number of goats making their home in Wisconsin is continuing to climb.

Wisconsin leads the nation in the number of dairy goats with over 50,000 on hand as of January 1.  That's a 3,000 head increase in a year.  But the story doesn't end there.

Wisconsin’s meat and other goats totaled 17,000 head - that number's actually down about 4,000 from last year. Statewide, there were 1,000 Angora goats, unchanged from last year. U.S. all goat inventory on January 1, 2011, totaled 3.00 million head, 1 percent lower than last year.

Nationwide, breeding goat inventory totaled 2.49 million head, and market goats were 514,000 head. The 2010 kid, or baby goat, crop was 1.91 million head for all goats, down 2 percent from 2009. Meat goats (and goats other than milk and angora) totaled 2.47 million head, down two percent from 2010. Milk goats in the U.S. totaled 360,000, 1 percent higher than the previous year.

Wisconsin’s sheep and lamb inventory on January 1, 2011, totaled 90,000 head, unchanged from last year. Total breeding stock was 76,000 head. Market sheep and lambs totaled 14,000. The lamb crop for 2010 was 77,000 head, which is an average of 1.35 lambs per ewe.

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