American Sheep Industry Association
Working in 
partnership with The Ohio State University, USDA Market News will begin providing coverage of the Mt. Hope Auction, Mt. Hope, Ohio, with the first published report scheduled to be released in mid-October.
The Mt. Hope sheep and goat auction is the third largest sheep and goat market in the nation, behind the markets in San Angelo, Texas, and New Holland, Pennsylvania. It is also one of the primary markets attracting a large volume of buyers interested in purchasing small ruminates for ethnic slaughter, predominately Halal, meat prepared as prescribed by Muslim law.
The addition of this market will increase the auction volume of sheep and goats reported by USDA in the U.S. from 30% to 35%, increasing price discovery and improving market transparency for the U.S. sheep industry. This will be the first USDA Market News livestock auction report for Ohio, made possible through a recently enacted Federal-State partnership with The Ohio State University that has provided the opportunity to facilitate price discovery for this highly followed sheep market in the Eastern corn-belt.