WASHINGTON — The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) announced a partnership to conduct a nationwide study on sheep and lamb health and management.

The study is conducted approximately every 10 years. This year’s study will be conducted from December 2023 through July 2024, consisting of two phases, biological sampling and two questionnaires.

Results gathered from the study are used to inform future policies affecting the sheep industry. The conclusions will provide a greater understanding of the national sheep health status and offer insight into management practices and disease preparedness.

“The data collected during this comprehensive survey will be instrumental for informing policy using real and accurate data, identifying economic impacts of sheep diseases, updating Extension programs to target the issues that sheep producers are facing and prioritizing research to tackle the health and disease issues in the US sheep industry,” said Natalie Urie, NAHMS sheep 2024 study lead. “Our goal is to identify impacts of common diseases, management and biosecurity practices associated with those diseases, antimicrobial use and resistance patterns, management practices producers use to control internal parasites, and more.”

Participating producers will have the opportunity for free and confidential biological sampling of their sheep, including sampling fecal egg counts to identify internal parasite issues and swabs to detect pathogens that cause lameness.

All information obtained will remain confidential, as required by law. The data will be used for statistical purposes only and published in aggregate form to prevent disclosing the identity of any individual producer.

NASS said the results will be published at the conclusion of the sheep study.