How many sheep does Australias flock include and how much meat and wool do they produce?
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates that sheep and lamb numbers vary annually in response to markets and seasons. An historic trend in national flock size for the period 1987 to 1994 is shown in the chart below. In 1997, ABS estimated sheep numbers at over 120 million, producing in excess of 0.575 million tonnes of wool. The distribution of flock numbers and wool production on a zonal basis is represented in the table below.
