Executive Summary Sheep and goats represent one of the largest livestock protein systems in the world, with an estimated 2.3 billion head globally; however, they remain almost entirely absent from U.S. agricultural policy, trade strategy, and market forecasting. The U.S. small ruminant herd, at roughly 7.5 million head, accounts for less than 0.3 percent of the global population and has continued to contract even as domestic demand for lamb and goat meat rises. The result is a structural and widening import dependency: the U.S. has imported an average of $1.47 billion annually in lamb, mutton, and goat meat over the past five years, with Australia and New Zealand supplying the overwhelming majority of that volume. For traders, investors, an...