World Sheep Numbers 920M At Last Count

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30173, 3 July 1963, Page 22

World Sheep Numbers 920M At Last Count

The total number of sheep to the world in 1841-62 is estimated to have amounted to about 920 million, or 1 per cent more than in the pre-

vious season and slightly above the record set up in 1948-40, according to . the “World Wool Digest,” published by the International Wool Secretariat Between the end of the war and the 1959-80 season, numbers rose each year and the world total increased by about a third over the whole period. Later the rate of ’increase appears to have flattened out so that aggregate numbers have shown little change since 1959-60. The reasons for this check in the rate of growth include a number of severe droughts and other unfavourable climatic conditions affecting large areas of the main producing countries in both southern and northern hemispheres. It is possible, too. that the relatively low prices foi wool prevailing since the 1957-58 season may have had some adverse effect on the capitalisation of the industry and thus on sheer numbers.

. The sheep population tn Australia rose by 5 million or 3 per cent, bitween March. 1981, and March, 1962; climatic conditions were generally more favourable than in the previous season and this factor was largely responsible for the recovery in numbers.

in New Zealand recorded a further increase: the June. 1962, total of nearly. 49' million was. however, only 0.7 per cent, higher than a year earlier, compared with a rise of 2.8 per cent in the previous season. The relatively small rise is attributed to the drought, which produced abnormal lamb

mortality and ewe slaughterings. Severe drought has affected large parts of the main sheepraising areas of Argentina and South Africa, but in the absence of full livestock enumerations It is not possible to say how great an influence this has had upon total members. Drop tn SA. South Africa’s latest official statistics relate to June, 1980, when flocks were already feeling the effects o£ the long continued drought in the Karroo and Northern Cape Province; at that date sheep numbered 34.4 million. In Argentina. number* were officially estimated to have dropped by 2 million between 1960 and 1961 because of unfavourable climatic conditions. In the latter part of 1962 severe drought conditions prevailed over large parts of Buenos Aires. La Pampa, and Rio Negro, causing a loss of more than 5 million sheep in those provinces up to mid-January. 1963. However, no estimates are yet available of total Argentine numbers in the 1962-63 season. In the United States, numbers at January. 1962, were nearly 5 per cent, lower than a year earlier, and a further 4 per cent, reduction was recorded in January. 1963. to 30 million.

In Western Europe, total sheep numbers showed little change on balance in 1961-62 when compared with the previous season. Flocks in the United Kingdom and Ireland were somewhat higher, constituting new records in each case, but elsewhere numbers tended to fall.

In the carpet wool producing countries of the Middle East and North Africa, conditions were generally more

favourable, after the widespread droughts during the previous two or three seasons. Communist Countries In the Communist countries as a whole, numbers are estimated to have shown a recovery in 1961-62 because of rather better weather than the previous season. In the Soviet Upton there was a 3 per cent rise at the January, 1982. count compared with a year earlier (when numbers had fallen! and a further IMi per cent, improvement was recorded in January. 1963. In Rumania and Bulgaria numbers rose further during the 1961-62 season, but elsewhere in Eastern Europe they fell slightly. No figures for China have been published since before the three years of natural disasters, which greatly reduced agricultural output in that country; it is, however, thought that the main sheepraising areas may have been relatively less affected by the abnormal weather than the more cultivated areas in Eastern China.