Virginia 4-H : Market Lamb Project Guide

Virginia is the largest sheep producing state in the eastern United States. There are approximately 125,000 breeding-age ewes in Virginia, and Virginia producers raise 140,000 market lambs a year. Sheep play a key role in utilizing the vast amount of pasture forage available throughout Virginia. Sheep are the most efficient converters of grass to a choice meat product of all the livestock species. Over ninety percent of a ewe's yearly energy requirement comes from forage.